Tennessee football worked inside the Anderson Training Center on Wednesday morning for its sixth practice of fall camp and its first practice with full pads on.
The first three portions of practice were open to the media meaning we were able to watch only approximately 15 minutes of practices. For the final few minutes most of the offense moved outside and we were not allowed to go outside so not a ton of offensive notes today— especially with the quarterbacks and receivers. With that limited of a practice viewing time, there are only so many takeaways that one can glean.
With that, it’s on to the notes and observations.
Offense
Let’s start with injuries and absences. The first day of full pads led to more players wearing red non contact jerseys. On the offensive side that included Kaleb Webb and walk on receivers Tommy Winton III, Nathan Roberts and Dayton Sneed— whose younger brother Carson committed to Tennessee earlier this week.
Running back Cam Seldon remained in a red jersey as has been the case all fall camp while he works his way back from spring shoulder surgery. Freshman offensive lineman Jeremias Heard was working off to the side and not dressed out. Andrej Karic was dressed out but was also working off to the side. After working off to the side in the last couple practices, John Campbell was back to full go during the open portion of practice as the Vols offensive line did some sled work.
Wasn’t a ton of routes on air for us to watch but Webb was still going through them in his non contact jersey which seems like a good sign. However, Tulane transfer Chris Brazzell Jr. did not go through routes on air. He was fully dressed out and near the rest of the receivers but didn’t do any reps while we were out there. On a more positive note, Mike Matthews was full dressed out for the first time this fall camp and did go through routes on air.
Bru McCoy, Squirrel White, Ethan Davis and Kaleb Webb were the pass catchers working with Iamaleava. The redshirt freshman quarterback missed one throw low to White but was effective over than that.
Tennessee’s running backs did a lot of its normal footwork drills including some drills with runners evading medicine balls. The drill forced running backs to make quick cuts. I was impressed with freshman Peyton Lewis who continues to intrigue me as much as any player on the roster.
The Vols scrimmage for the first time on Thursday and the running back room is the position I’m most curious to hear about. Seldon won’t go and I imagine they’ll severely limit Dylan Sampson’s reps. That means plenty of opportunities for Lewis, DeSean Bishop and Khalifa Keith.
