Tennessee football returned to the Haslam Practice Field on Monday morning for its second practice of the spring on a chilly March morning.
Practice was open to the media for nearly a full hour on Monday morning, three to four times as long as most practices will be open this spring. While Tennessee was not yet in full pads, there is still an abundance of takeaways to get to because of the one-on-ones and team work that we did watch.
One final note before getting on to observations, former Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer was in attendance at Monday’s practice. With that, let’s get to the takeaways with results of one-on-ones and 11v11 plays at the bottom.
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Offense
Let’s start with some injury notes. Transfer receiver Amari Jefferson and redshirt freshman Cole Harrison were both in red non contact jerseys and did some individual work but did not participate in one-on-ones or 11v11. Offensive lineman Jeremias Heard was not full dressed out and working to the side.
Let’s go ahead and get to the good stuff. Here’s what Tennessee’s first team offensive line looked like when they took the field for 11v11 work. DeSean Bishop flanked Nico Iamaleava as the running back. Mike Matthews and Chris Brazzell were the outside receivers while Braylon Staley worked in the slot. Miles Kitselman was the first team tight end.
Working left to right, Tennessee’s first team offensive line was Lance Heard, Jesse Perry, William Satterwhite, Andrej Karic, Larry Johnson III.
Working left to right, Tennessee’s second team offensive line was Bennett Warren, Wendell Moe, Max Anderson, Sam Pendleton, Brian Grant. Then the third team offensive lineman, working left to right was Trevor Duncan, Gage Ginther, Gus Hill, Ayden Bussell, David Sanders.
The first team offensive line had none of Tennessee’s projected newcomer starters. Sam Pendleton and Wendell Moe were both with the second team while five-star freshman David Sanders worked with the third team. I don’t read too much into that but it is worth noting.
Now another piece of personnel news that is worth noting. Boo Carter worked as the second team slot receiver and got offensive reps during one-on-one and 11v11.
One final offensive note before getting to competition results, Tennessee ran a decent bit of pistol formation and had less reps with wide splits compared to its normal offense. I don’t know how much to make of it but it was worth noting.
Defense
Much more injury notes here compared to the offensive side of the ball. Jordan Ross, Dylan Lewis, Daevin Hobbs, Jayden Loftin, Arion Carter, Emmanuel Okoye, Christian Gass, Jadon Perlotte and Mariyon Dye were all working off to the side. Jermod McCoy and Jourdan Thomas were working on the bike while they continue to rehab torn ACL injuries.
Tennessee’s first team defense when they worked during 11v11 action included Rickey Gibson and Jalen McMurray at cornerback, Boo Carter at STAR, John Slaughter and Andre Turrentine at safety, Ben Bolton and Jeremiah Telander at linebacker and then Dominic Bailey, Jaxson Moi, Bryson Eason and Josh Josephs across the defensive line.
Kaleb Beasley, who repped almost exclusively at corner, worked some at safety on Monday as did sophomore Edrees Farooq who is in line to push for playing time. Edwin Spillman was a second team linebacker. It was certainly surprising to see Bolton on the first team over Spillman but I don’t read too much into that. Caleb Herring also worked as the second team LEO.
Safety was probably the most interesting development to me with Slaughter, who looks like $100 these days, working as the first team safety.
One-on-One and 11v11 Results
During the pass catcher/secondary one-on-ones, the offense definitely won the day though it was a good deal of shorter routes.
Braylon Staley burnt Jakobe Thomas on a slant and caught a pass from Nico Iamaleava. It was a nice day of reps from Staley. He also put Beasley in the blender and caught a pass from Iamaleava. Tennessee’s starting quarterback connected with Mike Matthews twice including the play of the day when Matthews moss’d freshman Tre Poteat on a back corner ball.
It was a relatively sharp session for Iamaleava who also completed short passes to Miles Kitselman and Chris Brazzell. One Iamaleava incompletion came when Jakobe Thomas broke up a pass intended for Boo Carter and then had some choice words for his defensive back teammate.
Ethan Davis burned John Slaughter on a double move and hauled in a pass from Jake Merklinger. Merklinger also threw a beautiful ball to Trey Weary on a deep out route.
George MacIntyre had a nice day throwing the football to some walk-on receivers and over receivers further down the depth chart.
During 11-on-11, Iamaleava threw a nice deep curl to Braylon Staley in the slot. Staley made one man miss and got up field. He was also late throwing over the middle once and the ball fell incomplete but it was a dangerous throw that could have been intercepted. Much to this writer’s joy, Tennessee ran some short crossers and Iamaleava connected with Brazzell for a quick gain.
Merklinger connected with Carter twice, once on a bubble screen and then again on a roll out. Carter made a sliding catch for about a 25 yard gain.
Both Peyton Lewis and DeSean Bishop had nice runs while the defense blew up a Lewis run at another point.
