Tennessee football put the pads on for the first time this fall Tuesday morning on a beautiful morning on the Haslam Practice Field.
The media got to watch the first three period of practice, roughly 20 minutes, so as always there’s only so many takeaways to gather.
Here’s our notes and observations from practice the Vols’ sixth fall practice.
Offense
Let’s start with absences which was relatively similar to yesterday with a few small changes. Cooper Mays was dressed out and warming up but wasn’t out on the practice field going through drills during the open portion of practice.
Bru McCoy, Squirrel White and Nathan Leacock were fully dressed out and went through warmups. But like Monday, neither White or Leacock were going through routes on air. McCoy did catch passes Tuesday after working inside during the open portion of practice Monday.
While McCoy was back working at full strength, receiver Dont’e Thornton was absent during the open portions of practice. Ethan Davis also was dressed out but working inside after warmups.
It wasn’t a traditional routes on air portion for Tennessee’s quarterbacks and receivers. There were no routes as the group worked on the scramble drill. All four pass catchers started 10 yards down the field at once as four quarterbacks evade the pocket at the same time and threw to a very specific receiver.
Predictably, it wasn’t as efficient of a session due to the change. There were more throws further down the field which combined with them being on the run made for more balls hitting the ground.
Both Joe Milton III and Nico Iamaleava overthrew one deep ball but were otherwise accurate. Milton had the throw of the day. A vintage Milton deep shot, the talented passer evaded the pocket to the right before uncorking a beautiful deep ball that dropped in McCoy’s arms right in stride.
With Mays absent there was more opportunities for reps at center. Ollie Lane, who has been repping with the first team at guard, was working at center which propelled Texas transfer Andrej Karic into the first team left guard spot. Offensive line coach Glen Elarbee noted Monday that they have had snapping issues with Mays absent. Freshman Vysen Lang was working on snaps off to the side.
The offensive line worked on run blocking against a stunting defensive line.
Tennessee’s running back group is fully healthy to this point and all were active going through drills Tuesday. Inside the Anderson Training Center they caught swing passes from the Vols’ quarterbacks. Dylan Sampson led the way during the drill followed by Jaylen Wright. The only ball that hit the ground was a low throw from Iamaleava to Wright.
Outside on the Haslam Practice Field the group went through their normal drills but did take handoffs from a quarterback (GA) working under center.
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Defense
The injury report on the defensive side of the ball is similar to the last few days. Jourdan Thomas, Wesley Walker and Tamarion McDonald were dressed out but stayed inside to work once the team went out to the Haslam Practice Field.
Safety Christian Charles also worked outside during the first drills before running back inside the Anderson Training Center. He could have returned to the Haslam Practice Field later in practice but I didn’t spot him again during the open portion of practice.
With full pads on the emphasis was clearly on block shedding and tackling on the defensive side of the ball. Tim Banks was reminding the Vols’ safeties that you have to shed a block before you can make a tackle and inside linebackers coach Brian-Jean Mary continues to emphasize the fundamentals as his group works against pads and not live players.
The inside linebackers also did some work rushing the passer during the open portion of practice.
The corners didn’t get out of tackling work either and it’s clearly an adjustment for talented freshmen Rickey Gibson and Jordan Matthews. Defensive backs coach Willie Martinez provided plenty of instruction for both as they went through drills.
Defensive line coach Rodney Garner was fired up and not pleased with his group’s energy Tuesday. The veteran defensive line coach doesn’t mince words and is talking to the media later today. It’ll be interesting to see what he has to say.
