Tennessee football practiced in shells inside the Anderson Training Center Tuesday on a rainy Knoxville Tuesday. The Vols return to Neyland Stadium for their second scrimmage of fall camp Wednesday as the camp portion of fall practice begins to wind down.
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. However, we did get to watch redzone one-on-ones between receivers and defensive backs so there will be a third section that has the individual results of each rep.
With that, here’s our notes and observations from practice the Vols’ 11th fall practice.
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Offense
There were only two injuries I noted on the offensive side of the ball. Freshman running back DeSean Bishop was not out on the practice field and while Squirrel White was dressed out and went through routes on air, he did not participate in the one-on-one red zone work.
It was a relatively boring day to watch the running backs as they worked on resistance work, running against the pressure from bands.
I won’t touch too much on the routes on air portion of practice since we got red zone competition but Joe Milton III and Nico Iamaleava were both efficient in their work. The only incompletion I saw from either was a Iamaleava pass over the middle to McCallan Castles. Castles could have hauled it in but the throw was high and not an easy catch.
Defense
There’s more injury notes on the defensive side of the ball both in the positive and negative variety. Let’s start with the bad news where BYU transfer Gabe Jeudy-Lally had a red jersey on and did not do the red zone competition work. It’s the first time we’ve seen anyone in a red jersey (besides a quarterback) all camp and the first time Jeudy-Lally has been banged up. Safety Christian Charles was absent at practice Tuesday. He’s been off-and-on at practice over the last week.
Defensive linemen Omarr Norman-Lott and Tyler Baron were both fully dressed out but were working off to the side and not going through drills with the defensive linemen. That marks the third straight open practice Norman-Lott has been limited and the second straight open practice that Baron has been limited.
In a bit of good news, both Tamarion McDonald and Wesley Walker were full participants in the drill portion of practice though I don’t believe either competed in the red zone one-on-ones. Both projected starting defensive backs have worked off to the side and not done drills for much of the last week and a half of camp.
Both Rodney Garner and Brian Jean-Mary were relatively mild mannered and not too upset with their position groups while we watched drills. While we touched on some minor defensive line injuries, both of those groups have stayed relatively healthy to this point in camp.
Josh Josephs continues to not only look better physically but is also just carrying himself with a lot of confidence right now. Of all the underclassmen defenders looking to step into a big role, Josephs might be the most ready.
Red Zone One-On-Ones
We’ll start with a disclaimer. Much like Tennessee’s in-game offense, the reps go by extremely quickly during the portion of practice. I tried to write down the quarterback, receiver, defensive back, route and result of every rep but missed some details on a good handful.
Apologies for that and now it’s on to the good stuff as Josh Heupel threw us a bone with some competition work Tuesday. The first round of reps took place from the 10-yard line. The second round of reps took place from the five-yard line.
First Round Of Reps
Bru McCoy somehow pulled a Milton slant out of Kamal Hadden’s body for a catch.
Milton’s pass over the middle to Jacob Warren was incomplete with Andre Turrentine in coverage. Pass interference could have been called.
Dont’e Thornton burnt Jaylen McCollough on a fade and hauled in Milton’s pass.
Ramel Keyton burnt Doneiko Slaughter on a slant and hauled in Milton’s pass.
Nico Iamaleava couldn’t connect with Chas Nimrod on a fade.
McCallan Castles used his body to box out Will Brooks and caught a Iamaleava pass over the middle.
Jack Jancek made one of the two plays of the period, hauling in a Iamaleava fade pass with one hand for a score.
Warren Burrell was in coverage as Iamaleava couldn’t connect with Kaleb Webb on a slant.
Ethan Davis put a nasty double move on Jack Luttrell and hauled in a Gaston Moore pass.
Moore couldn’t connect with Dayton Sneed or Trey Weary on back-to-back reps.
Navy Shuler’s first pass fell incomplete before Charlie Browder made a spectacular falling catch on a fade route.
Nate Spillman burnt Dee Williams on a slant and hauled in Shuler’s pass.
Second Round Of Reps
McCoy boxed out Hadden on a slant and hauled in a Milton pass.
Milton couldn’t connect with Warren on a fade route. Turrentine was in coverage.
McCollough had good coverage on a Thornton slant and knocked away Milton’s pass for an incompletion.
Jordan Matthews had fantastic coverage on a Ramel Keyton slant leading to a Milton incompletion.
Christian Harrison made a nice play knocking away a Iamaleava fade targeting Nimrod.
Emmanuel Okoye made a nice catch on a great Iamaleava fade pass, beating Luttrell for a score.
Kaleb Webb beat De’Shawn Rucker on a slant but dropped Iamaleava’s pass.
Christian Conyer was beat on a slant route but the receiver (didn’t get who it was) dropped a Iamaleava pass between the numbers.
John Slaughter made a great play, turning his head and knocking away a Moore pass on a fade route.
Moore connected with Sneed for a score. Weary beat Slaughter on a slant route and hauled in Moore’s pass for a score.
