On Friday morning, Tennessee football took to Neyland Stadium for its second fall camp scrimmage of the preseason. With just over two weeks until the Vols hit Atlanta to play Syracuse in the season-opener on Aug. 30, there were a handful of limitations with participants.
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel noted that the starting defense was only in ‘thud’ mode during the scrimmage. This means that they weren’t permitted to make real tackles to the ground, instead wrapping up and driving ball carriers to end a play.
In terms of who participated and who didn’t, there were a few notable names not able to compete on the offensive side of the ball. At wide receiver, Heupel said Chris Brazzell did not go. Brazzell is nursing a lower-body injury and recently made a limited return to practice. During those sessions, he went through team drills with limited contact and ran abbreviated routes on air.
Also at receiver, slot option Braylon Staley did not compete. He has missed a good bit of time recently due to injury, but the goal remains to get him ready for the season-opener around the corner.
Mike Matthews did play in the scrimmage. Heupel said he made ‘some big plays down the field’ during his time in action. Matthews has recently sported a red non-contact jersey at practices. It is unclear if he remained in that designation during the scrimmage.
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On defense, Jermod McCoy remained sidelined. He is coming off an ACL injury over the winter, but is attempting to get ready to play at some point this season. He made his practice debut last week, but has been limited in his participation during the sessions open to the media.
“He was not a part of the scrimmage,” Heupel said about McCoy. “He is continuing his rehab and I think you guys saw him out on the practice field with us a few days ago and it’s continuing on that journey.”
Heupel did say Boo Carter participated in some form on Friday morning. He also said this after the first scrimmage, but the extent of what his activities actually were wasn’t made clear. Heupel did note that he is day-to-day in terms of how much he’s participating after a turbulent offseason.
“Boo (Carter) was out there with us today and got work,” Heupel said. “End of the day, it’s day-to-day and he’s done some things in a good way here.”
