Tennessee football is approaching the end of spring camp with the Orange & White Game scheduled for Saturday. Ahead of the scrimmage, Vols special teams coordinator Evan Crabtree met with the media.
Crabtree was asked about where the place kicking competition is at, the return of punter Jackson Ross, who is competing to punt return and more.
Here’s what he said.
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On where the team is at with placekicker
“Where we’re at with placekicker, we got, Josh Turbyville has been here. He’s been our kickoff guy for the last three, four years. He’s coming along and competing. We got Cooper Ranvier, who we brought in from Louisville. Those two guys are going head-to-head right now in spring. Grady Dangerfield is the younger kid with us on our roster, doing a great job. So we got those three guys as placekickers. Competition, iron sharpens iron. Every day that we go out there, we’ve got competitive kicks, we’ve got team sets, we’ve got pressure kicks, seeing who comes out on top, not only just this spring, but in training camp as we keep moving on.”
On what he saw from Louisville PK transfer Cooper Ranvier
“He’s accurate. He had good numbers. He’s got a powerful leg. He came here, and he worked out in the high school recruiting cycle where he was actually here. He kicked. We didn’t have the spot that year to take him, but as he got in the portal and he came back around, it’s funny how two years later he ends up here. But powerful leg, accurate, confident kid. That’s who we wanted. So it’s a great addition to our roster.”
On what he’s seen from Ravier this spring
“Well, it’s not that we didn’t see it early when he was a high schooler. It’s just we didn’t have the spot to take him. I always knew he was powerful and knew he had a great leg. What I really like about Cooper growing up as a young kicker is that he actually played receiver. He played in that position. He’s competitive. He’s been in the game of football more than just kicking for a long time. So, I appreciate that about his personality. But in the college ranks, it is nice to see proof on film of a guy that’s done it in a game in competitive settings, and he’s hit fourth quarter kicks, and he’s been in that moment. You have that on film as a confirmation. So that’s what I liked about him the second time around when we got a chance to dive over.”
On his first season as special teams coordinator last year, the emphasis this year
“Start with the bad. I mean, there’s always gonna be bad plays in the course of a season. I’m not blind to that, and in fact, that’s the first thing we’re gonna look at and evaluate. I’d say the first obvious one was the situational kicks that we gotta hit. We’re kicking ourselves for those, and that’s the life of a specialist, but it’s the life of a college football player. You gotta hit the big ones. In the punt return game, we had so much left out there. We gotta secure the ball. We gotta catch the ball. Punt returners are, it’s what we do around here, and we’ve had elite returners. We need to get it started, and that starts with the returner, but it also starts with the corners and everybody else in front of him. Those are the units that we really need improvement on.
“However, from a coverage standpoint, you look at our punt coverage, our kickoff coverage, and we lead the conference in multiple of those categories. That’s yards per opponent return. That’s pinning the guys inside the 10-yard line on our midfield punts. I mean, we’ve been successful in that regard. A lot of that’s because of Jackson Ross and our gunners that were out wide covering and doing a great job. But we take a lot of pride in that. Kickoff return, yards per return, we led, I think, we were second in the country this past year. So it’s just the opportunities that we get, we gotta go hit the home run, and we know that as special teams guys, that we’re not gonna get a drive. We got one play. So we just gotta capitalize.”
On the punt return competition
“Number one, what I wanna see, guys that can catch confidently in traffic. That’s the number one thing. Gotta secure the ball. We’ve had some really good ones here that have ability. The number one thing is catching the ball. The second thing is playmaking ability. How can that guy then take what he caught and then go make something happen, make a big play? The pool of guys that we’re working with, there’s some familiar faces. Daune Morris has been a guy that kind of took over that role halfway through the year. Did a great job catching the ball. Wanna see him continue to grow as the return side of it goes, but phenomenal with the catch.
“Braylon Staley obviously is a guy that’s been back there a bunch. Just continuing to rep him. Guys that came in, Qua Moss, super talented, very, very quick right out of the line and all the things that we evaluate defensively, you show up as a punt returner, and he’s got the it factor when it comes to he can hit the home run. Ian Duarte is a guy we brought in in the transfer portal. He’s a guy that’s done it at Idaho State. From the catch standpoint, he’s returned and hit a touchdown last year. Isaiah Hardge, Colorado, he’s a kid that we brought in, and he’s a great special teams player. He’s a great guy that has caught the ball in a game, and he’s another one that’s in the pool of guys that we’re looking at.”
On punter Jackson Ross’ leadership
“He’s going on his fifth year, so when he first got here, it was more about figuring things out, learning the United States, learning the ways of what we do here. It’s funny, though. You see him now, and he’s this old vet, even older than when he was his first year, but he gets a real feel for what’s going on in the game of football, and he actually picks up on stuff in the game. Whereas in his first year, offense and defense, it was a little foreign to him. So, it’s been cool to see him grow as a leader. The guys look up to him. He’s got a great personality in the room, but also with the team. Guys gravitate towards him. We’ve got a new punter here (Logan Foley) that’s kinda his next up guy, and it’s been fun to see those two. It’s kinda like an old dog and a puppy. So we’re seeing him kinda guide him along here and learn the ways, as well.”
