Tennessee football worked inside the Anderson Training Center on a rainy Tuesday morning as the Vols work closer to their second fall scrimmage on Friday morning.
Tuesday’s practice was the final one open to the media during fall camp, making it the last look the media will get of the team until they open up the season against Syracuse in 2.5 weeks.
Only three periods of practice, about 15-20 minutes, were open to the media Friday morning so there’s only so many observations to glean from the action. With that, it’s on to the notes and observations from Tennessee football’s 10th fall practice.
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Offense
Let’s start with availability status and it is was relatively similar to Monday. Mike Matthews remains in a red non contact jersey but was fully going through drills during open portions of practice. Braylon Staley continues to work off to the side while Chris Brazzell was out there dressed out but was pretty limited in what he did during the open portions of practice.
Miles Kitselman worked in a yellow, light contact, jersey during Tuesday’s practice for the second straight day.
There were some new injury notes on the offensive line. Jeremias Heard was working in the weight room. I was also unable to spot Sham Umarov who continues to compete for the starting right guard spot.
Sticking with the offensive line, Sam Pendleton was not doing at least one drill with the centers as William Satterwhite, Max Anderson and Nic Moore rotated at the spot. Also notable on the offensive line, David Sanders was out there fully dressed out but was just holding his helmet and didn’t go through any drills while I watched. Maybe he did more after we left practice, but that was notable.
With Sanders not going through drills, Jesse Perry was the right tackle, Pendleton was the right guard, Satterwhite was the center, Wendell Moe Jr. was the left guard and Lance Heard was the left tackle.
Perry looks like the due it all guy who can play both tackle and guard. Having that swing man is valuable, especially after losing Dayne Davis to graduation.
Tennessee didn’t do any routes on air work during the open portions of practice so really nothing of interest there. The Vols’ quarterbacks worked on throwing on the run, mesh point work with running backs and climbing the pocket.
Defense
Boo Carter, Rickey Gibson and Jermod McCoy continue to go through drills. McCoy was not wearing shoulder pads but did a little more drill work during Tuesday’s practice.
Colton Hood upgraded from a red non contact jersey into a yellow light contact jersey. Jeremiah Telander was also in a yellow jersey after being in a red jersey Monday which was a good step in the right direction. Ty Redmond remained in a red non contact jersey for the second straight day.
The most positive injury update was Josh Josephs who was back full-go on the practice field after like a week and a half off.
Practice being inside meant we got a glimpse at who was fielding punts and it was a group that included Mike Matthews, Jermod McCoy, Boo Carter, Edrees Farooq and DeSean Bishop.
Tennessee’s defensive players were working on a number of ball drills. Defensive back coach Willie Martinez talked about Gibson’s ball skills being improved and he looked good catching the football. Martinez was getting after his defensive backs pretty good on Tuesday morning.
