Tennessee football was back on the Haslam Practice Field Sunday morning for its fourth fall practice and its penultimate practice before putting on full pads this coming week.
Only three periods of practice, about 15-20 minutes, were open to the media Sunday 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 fourth fall practice.
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Offense
We start with the injury report and there were a few new additions today. Sophomore receiver Mike Matthews was off stretching to the side when drills began. The former five-star recruit is day-to-day and expected to be full go soon. Chris Brazzell was not on the field during warmups but I spotted him after drills began. As has been the case all week, the redshirt junior receiver worked off to the side.
Tight end Miles Kitselman remained in a red non contact jersey while tight end Cole Harrison continues to not dress out and work off to the side.
One new note on the offensive line as we were unable to spot William Satterwhite during the open portions of practice. Sam Pendleton, Max Anderson and Nic Moore were the trio working at center with Satterwhite not present.
Let me set the stage for routes on air before I dive into the numbers. Practice begins in the indoor facility and then the team moves outside. The media has to wait for the whole team to get out to the practice field before making our way out there ourselves. By the time we get outside, routes on air is already getting going on the far field. So we miss the very beginning of routes on air and watch the first bit from afar as we walk over there.
With that, here were the numbers from the five-ish minutes of routes on air that we watched. Jake Merklinger was nine-for-10, Joey Aguilar was seven-for-12 and George MacIntyre was nine-for-nine.
Aguilar got off to a pretty brutal start, throwing all five of his incompletions in a row. There were bad drops from Radarious Jackson and Travis Smith Jr in there and another drop on a ball over the middle that was a bit behind Braylon Staley. While Aguilar didn’t get any help on a couple reps, he also misfired on a handful too.
I thought Merklinger had the best day that I had seen from him. Was consistently accurate throwing the football with his one miss coming on a ball he threw too far out ahead of tight end DaSaahn Brame. George MacIntyre also had a really nice day but he continues to rep exclusively with the third team while we’re out there. Aguilar and Merklinger continue to rotate with the first team.
A couple final notes on the offensive side of the ball. Aguilar had the GoPro on his helmet today after Merklinger wore it the last two days. Travis Smith Jr. repped with the first team with Matthews sidelined. Receiver coach Kelsey Pope was sporadically throwing tennis balls at his receivers when they weren’t in active reps, urging them to catch the tennis balls with two hands.
Lastly, I noted this earlier in the week but Tennessee’s freshmen tight ends Jack Van Dorselaer and DaSaahn Brame look great. Really think those two are going to push for playing time this season.
Defense
The injury notes largely remained the same as they have been on the defensive side of the football. Boo Carter warmed up with his helmet on again but continues to work off to the side while we’re at practice. Freshman edge Christian Gass and star cornerback Jermod McCoy were not dressed out but stretched and worked off to the side.
The one new note is that edge rusher Josh Josephs was not on the practice field during stretches and was off to the side once the drill portion of practice began.
I finally spent a longer stretch of time watching the defensive line today and what stood out to me was how well put together a number of the young guys are. Freshmen Ethan Utley and Mariyon Dye simply do not look like freshmen. Isaiah Campbell doesn’t look quite as put together as those guys but he still looks the part of a top 50 recruit.
Jaxson Moi and Bryson Eason were the first two defensive tackles going through drills but I continue to believe that Daevin Hobbs is the highest ceiling guy in that room and a dude that can change the outlook of Tennessee’s defensive line if it all comes together.
Tyree Weathersby has always been a guy that looks the part and he continues to progress. I’m curious to see if he pushes for legit playing time at strongside defensive end behind Tyre West and Dominic Bailey.
Didn’t spend time watching the linebackers or defensive backs today so I don’t have any notes there. Tennessee is off Monday and will be back on the practice field Tuesday for its final practice in shells.
