Tennessee held its fifth spring practice Thursday, changing up the schedule a bit and allowing the media to see periods 4-6.
It was mostly the same individual drills, but the quarterbacks and receivers worked on a different red zone route tree, which was interesting to watch.
I stayed with that unit most of the time Thursday. We've got plenty of video documenting their work.
Overall, the most notable takeaway was the return of wideout Jauan Jennings. The junior wideout missed a couple practices due to academic responsibilities and a nagging injury, but he looked solid in his return Thursday. Butch Jones had Jennings leading every rep, even stopping a drill for JJ to show everyone how to run a proper press-man slant.
After the play, Jones told Jennings to catch the ball with his hands, which promoted a funny "yea, yea, I know" reaction from JJ. Still, his return added an entire presence to the unit. He was constantly peer-coaching his teammates throughout. I thought Jeff George had his best practice to date. Is that enough for him to make an impact in the fall? Who knows. But he looked smooth Thursday.
As for the quarterbacks, Quinten Dormady was pretty good, but Jarrett Guarantano made a couple of throws that elicited audible excitement from Mike Canales. He was really sharp.
Also: Chico's favorite phrase? "SNIPER ACCURACY."
Other quick hitters from Thursday
* Coleman Thomas was present watching practice just days after his emergency appendectomy.
* Couple other vets did not practice Thursday, but the media is not allowed to report the names.
* Without some guys on the OL, Trey Smith is getting a lot of work at right tackle.
* Kevin Beard had his wideouts practicing their release off the line during one drill. George actually beat Jennings on one rep. Later, the unit worked on run blocking.
* Butch Jones spent the entire portion of practice we were at with the quarterbacks and receivers.
* Former Vol wideout Robert Meachem was at practice Thursday.
@Rob Lewis observations
The intensity seems a little higher now that the pads are on, especially for the linemen on both sides of the ball who generally engage in a little more contact even when it’s tightly managed in drill work.
One thing that’s emerging this spring is that Walt Wells is a demanding guy on the practice field who isn’t afraid to light into his players to crank up the intensity. You can also hear Wells constantly focusing on details like foot placement, where to go with your hands, how to generate leverage, etc.
He’s setting a tone with his guys and has shown himself to be both a teacher and a hard ‘case’ as needed.
With so many guys on the offensive front limited or out some young guys are getting a ton of work.
One of those is Trey Smith who we’ve seen working almost exclusively at right tackle. He doesn’t seem overwhelmed by anything getting thrown his way at the moment, and as we’ve mentioned repeatedly, physically, he already may be the Vols’ most impressive looking offensive linemen.
Ryan Johnson continues to get a great deal of work at left guard and it will be interesting to see if that move works out for all involved. It looks promising early on.
Coleman Thomas was back out at practice today observing things after his scare earlier this week that saw him have to have an emergency appendectomy.
Defensively, with the defensive tackle depth chart being what it is, Alexis Johnson and Quay Picou are getting a ton of one-on-one attention from Brady Hoke. Now that the pads are on Kahlil McKenzie is working mostly on his own and Shy Tuttle is obviously not having any contact this spring.
That’s less than ideal but it’s allowing Hoke to absolutely put Johnson and Picou through a cram session, a situation that should benefit two players who will be key in 2017.
It was mostly the same individual drills, but the quarterbacks and receivers worked on a different red zone route tree, which was interesting to watch.
I stayed with that unit most of the time Thursday. We've got plenty of video documenting their work.
Overall, the most notable takeaway was the return of wideout Jauan Jennings. The junior wideout missed a couple practices due to academic responsibilities and a nagging injury, but he looked solid in his return Thursday. Butch Jones had Jennings leading every rep, even stopping a drill for JJ to show everyone how to run a proper press-man slant.
After the play, Jones told Jennings to catch the ball with his hands, which promoted a funny "yea, yea, I know" reaction from JJ. Still, his return added an entire presence to the unit. He was constantly peer-coaching his teammates throughout. I thought Jeff George had his best practice to date. Is that enough for him to make an impact in the fall? Who knows. But he looked smooth Thursday.
As for the quarterbacks, Quinten Dormady was pretty good, but Jarrett Guarantano made a couple of throws that elicited audible excitement from Mike Canales. He was really sharp.
Also: Chico's favorite phrase? "SNIPER ACCURACY."
Other quick hitters from Thursday
* Coleman Thomas was present watching practice just days after his emergency appendectomy.
* Couple other vets did not practice Thursday, but the media is not allowed to report the names.
* Without some guys on the OL, Trey Smith is getting a lot of work at right tackle.
* Kevin Beard had his wideouts practicing their release off the line during one drill. George actually beat Jennings on one rep. Later, the unit worked on run blocking.
* Butch Jones spent the entire portion of practice we were at with the quarterbacks and receivers.
* Former Vol wideout Robert Meachem was at practice Thursday.
@Rob Lewis observations
The intensity seems a little higher now that the pads are on, especially for the linemen on both sides of the ball who generally engage in a little more contact even when it’s tightly managed in drill work.
One thing that’s emerging this spring is that Walt Wells is a demanding guy on the practice field who isn’t afraid to light into his players to crank up the intensity. You can also hear Wells constantly focusing on details like foot placement, where to go with your hands, how to generate leverage, etc.
He’s setting a tone with his guys and has shown himself to be both a teacher and a hard ‘case’ as needed.
With so many guys on the offensive front limited or out some young guys are getting a ton of work.
One of those is Trey Smith who we’ve seen working almost exclusively at right tackle. He doesn’t seem overwhelmed by anything getting thrown his way at the moment, and as we’ve mentioned repeatedly, physically, he already may be the Vols’ most impressive looking offensive linemen.
Ryan Johnson continues to get a great deal of work at left guard and it will be interesting to see if that move works out for all involved. It looks promising early on.
Coleman Thomas was back out at practice today observing things after his scare earlier this week that saw him have to have an emergency appendectomy.
Defensively, with the defensive tackle depth chart being what it is, Alexis Johnson and Quay Picou are getting a ton of one-on-one attention from Brady Hoke. Now that the pads are on Kahlil McKenzie is working mostly on his own and Shy Tuttle is obviously not having any contact this spring.
That’s less than ideal but it’s allowing Hoke to absolutely put Johnson and Picou through a cram session, a situation that should benefit two players who will be key in 2017.
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