On a rainy and soggy afternoon, Tennessee’s preparation for Georgia Tech moved indoors Thursday, practicing inside just four days away from the opener in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Working in just shells, Tennessee spent much of its early practice work on closed special teams drills.
With limited viewing, here are our takeaways from the media's final viewing of the team before they take the field in Atlanta.
I spent most of the open period watching the quarterbacks and receivers run through their route tree. I wouldn't exactly call it the sharpest period — especially considering it was against air. Several wideouts dropped passes (notables include Jauan Jennings, Marquez Callaway and Josh Palmer), while both Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano had errant or soft throws. With the opener so close, it’s obvious the group is pairing down reps, though. Dormady took the first snaps every time, while Will McBride only got a throw or two on each route combination.
At receiver, Brandon Johnson caught the ball well, especially when Tennessee added “traffic” for the WRs. Also, Latrell Williams and Tyler Byrd were the lone two receivers to rep at the slot, with Williams taking the first rep each time.
With lots of scout team work defensively, a number of freshman appear headed for a redshirt including defensive linemen Ryan Thaxton and Kivon Bennett. We’ll have a more complete list in the War Room later tonight.
THIS & THAT
Game prep for Georgia Tech is in full swing now and defensively the Vols put in a ton of work against the scout team running their best version of the Yellow Jackets attack.
It’s been thought by everyone that the Vols would have to break out quite a bit of 4-3 against Georgia Tech and they worked some in that alignment today. The first team linebackers in that package reflected this week’s depth chart with Cortez McDowell at the WILL, Colton Jumper in the middle and Austin Smith at SAM.
As always, the Vols hit special teams hard today and one noteworthy observation there is that it looks like freshman Ty Chandler has worked his way into the No. 2 kickoff returner job behind Evan Berry.
This week also gives us some clues about which freshman the staff may be considering redshirting with several guys taking on scout team roles.
Up front, on defense Bob Shoop has made some noise about playing as many as 10 guys, and if he does that several freshman are going to have to play a role. Right now, it looks like Ryan Thaxton is the most likely of the freshman DLs to redshirt with Kivon Bennett and Eric Crosby possibilities.
Working in just shells, Tennessee spent much of its early practice work on closed special teams drills.
With limited viewing, here are our takeaways from the media's final viewing of the team before they take the field in Atlanta.
I spent most of the open period watching the quarterbacks and receivers run through their route tree. I wouldn't exactly call it the sharpest period — especially considering it was against air. Several wideouts dropped passes (notables include Jauan Jennings, Marquez Callaway and Josh Palmer), while both Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano had errant or soft throws. With the opener so close, it’s obvious the group is pairing down reps, though. Dormady took the first snaps every time, while Will McBride only got a throw or two on each route combination.
At receiver, Brandon Johnson caught the ball well, especially when Tennessee added “traffic” for the WRs. Also, Latrell Williams and Tyler Byrd were the lone two receivers to rep at the slot, with Williams taking the first rep each time.
With lots of scout team work defensively, a number of freshman appear headed for a redshirt including defensive linemen Ryan Thaxton and Kivon Bennett. We’ll have a more complete list in the War Room later tonight.
THIS & THAT
- Freshman tailback Ty Chandler earned an earful from tailbacks coach Robert Gillespie during one rep, but the rookie RB appears set for a significant role this fall. Not only is Chandler in line as the backup to John Kelly, but he seems slated to be Tennessee’s secondary option at KR after Evan Berry.
- Cornerback Shaq Wiggins (hip) was at practice, while NB Rashaan Gaulden continues to work exclusively with the corners during individual work.
- Defensive end Darrell Taylor was sporting a big cast on his right hand/wrist, but the redshirt sophomore appeared unaffected by the injury and took part in all drills.
- During five-man line drills, Jack Jones was working at LG with the rest of the announced starters on the offensive line.
Game prep for Georgia Tech is in full swing now and defensively the Vols put in a ton of work against the scout team running their best version of the Yellow Jackets attack.
It’s been thought by everyone that the Vols would have to break out quite a bit of 4-3 against Georgia Tech and they worked some in that alignment today. The first team linebackers in that package reflected this week’s depth chart with Cortez McDowell at the WILL, Colton Jumper in the middle and Austin Smith at SAM.
As always, the Vols hit special teams hard today and one noteworthy observation there is that it looks like freshman Ty Chandler has worked his way into the No. 2 kickoff returner job behind Evan Berry.
This week also gives us some clues about which freshman the staff may be considering redshirting with several guys taking on scout team roles.
Up front, on defense Bob Shoop has made some noise about playing as many as 10 guys, and if he does that several freshman are going to have to play a role. Right now, it looks like Ryan Thaxton is the most likely of the freshman DLs to redshirt with Kivon Bennett and Eric Crosby possibilities.
