On Monday morning, Tennessee football got its spring practice slate started. The Vols took to the indoor facility on a gloomy day in Knoxville to get back to work in year six under Josh Heupel.
With a few periods of practice open to the media, we got a look at what the roster looks like for the first time. There are only so many observations you can make during that stretch, but here’s what the notebook looks like.
Offense
The top storyline is who will play quarterback for Tennessee this year. It’s a wide-open three-man race between redshirt-freshman George MacIntyre, true freshman Faizon Brandon and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub. In the periods we were able to watch, the order for reps was MacIntyre, Brandon, Staub and then projected fourth-stringer Mason Phillips.
We never had the chance to watch quarterbacks throw routes on air with receivers, but did get to see them throw to the flat with running backs. The order of backs was DeSean Bishop, Daune Morris, Justin Baker, Javin Gordon and then Hunter Barnes. There were a few throws that could’ve been more accurate from all the quarterbacks, but nobody stood out in a positive or negative way during that session.
Joey Halzle then took his QBs through pocket presence drills before firing to a coach. Again, it’s impossible to crown a starter or even sole front-runner from that, but MacIntyre and Brandon looked sharp. While MacIntyre did put on some weight (up to 201 pounds on the roster from 195 a year ago), Brandon looks like he already has a college-ready frame. He’s showed off a great arm, too, though we didn’t get to watch any throws down the field.
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Defense
On defense, linebacker Arion Carter was not practicing with the team. No reason to panic, though. He’s dealing with an injury that he is recovering from to start spring ball. Josh Heupel confirmed this during his press conference. Edwin Spillman and Amare Campbell looked like the leaders you’d hope in his absence, as well.
In the secondary, it appeared the defensive backs split up into groups of safeties and cornerbacks. The safeties, with co-defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter, included Tevis Metcalf, Steele Katina, Dejuan Lane, DJ Burks, KJ McClain, Jackson Mathews, Dylan Lewis, Joel Whyatt, TJ Metcalf, Isaiah Hardge, Edrees Farooq, Qua Moss and Jowell Combay.
The cornerbacks, with Derek Jones, included Jadais Richard, Javonte Smith, Timothy Merritt, Kayin Lee, Zay Anderson, Jamyan Theodore, Tre Poteat and Ty Redmond.
The biggest takeaway from watching the defensive backs was the sheer size of Joel Wyatt. Wearing 31, you had to do a double-take to make sure it wasn’t Caleb Herring changing his mind on entering the portal. It’ll be interesting to see if they use him as a true safety or at STAR.
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