Tennessee football is nearly halfway through its spring practice slate as the Vols get a better look at the roster. One of the positions where snaps will be fought for is at running back behind DeSean Bishop.
To discuss that battle and more, running backs coach De’Rail Sims met with the media on Saturday. He is entering his third year with the program, producing a 1,000+ yard rusher in both of his first two seasons.
Here’s what he said.
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On what he’s seen from Tulane transfer Javin Gordon
“JG is a smart, really fast learner, has picked up on the system really fast. You can tell he played on a high-quality team last year. You kind of forget a little bit that he is still a freshman. Last year was the first semester in school for him in terms of being a high school guy. This is his second semester. He’s done a really good job of interacting with the teammates. He’s just an old-school football player. You can tell he’s got a really good feel as a running back in terms of being able to find holes, anticipating, setting things up in terms of a blocking standpoint. So he’s come along really fast since the time that he’s been here.”
On what they saw from Gordon at Tulane
“You look at it, he’s a guy that goes out there and plays early as a freshman, a true freshman in college, on a playoff caliber team, and he did a really good job of starting five games in that season. He was productive from that standpoint, but you see a guy that has a really high ceiling that is not maxed out from that standpoint. You saw the pass-catching ability out of the backfield, the pass protection ability, the running the football ability, as well. Feeling like from a character standpoint, he was a really good fit that would fit into that room, and he’s done that.”
On if Gordon has exceeded expectations
“No, cause, like, he was a guy that was on the radar for me at some other spots that I’ve been at from a recruiting standpoint. So, I had watched him practice before, understood what his skill set was, understood the mental makeup. This is a kid that had Harvard and Ivy League offers coming out of high school. So I knew he would be able to process fast, and I knew he had the skill set. He just had to get his body right in terms of getting in shape. Was a little overweight his senior year of high school and got that under control. And even coming in now, like, he looks really, really good, and you can tell DO (Derek Owings) has done a phenomenal job with that whole entire group in the weight room.”
On bringing back DeSean Bishop with a young room
“It’s huge because you look at the production. You got a guy that understands what he’s walking into in terms of seeing it week in and week out in terms of the caliber of teams that we’re going against. His understanding of what it’s like when the game’s on the line and having to go out there and make plays in all three facets of the game, in running the ball, the protection piece, and the passing game. So it’s huge having Bish back.”
On if Bishop carries himself differently as the returning veteran
“Bish still is Bish. His mindset, his mentality, the way he carries himself, it’s still him. He’s still gonna be the first guy in the building, still is gonna be the best note-taker on the whole entire team. The way he goes about practice in terms of being a technician has been really good. His habits, his characteristics that’s helped him get to this point has not changed. You see a little bit more sense of urgency with Bish, though, in terms of understanding, like, ‘I’m in a leadership role. I’m a returning starter on this offense. I don’t wanna live off the things that I did last year. I wanna go be better this year than I was last year.’ So you see all of those characteristics with Bish.”
On what he’s seen from Daune Morris
“With Daune, like, you see him grow and mature. That joker now is doing the things necessary in terms of from being a pro in his mindset. You see the way he goes attacks a lot down the field now. You see the way he carries himself in the meeting room and the entire building. Last year with him, he was a guy that was transitioning from being in high school that had been the best player on the field, to now you come in, you’re having to compete.
“And now you see him rise to the occasion in those situations. His pass pro has gotten better. It’s not to the level that we all want be at yet, but it’s gotten better. You see him being physical. You see him putting hands on people now. From a running the football standpoint, he’s done a really good job. We all know what kind of weapon he’s gonna be in the passing game, but in running the football, he’s done a really good job of being able to be patient, get his pads down, and go pad plus two.”
On Bishop’s leadership
“We got JG in. He’s a new guy in the room. The rest of those guys have been there. You see him kind of take him up under his wing. Like, JG sits on his right-hand side in the meeting room. So when there’s questions that need to be answered, when I’m not in the room, when the other coaches are not in the room, Bish is the guy that’s doing it. Same situation when they’re doing walkthroughs. He’s being the leader in the room to where like, ‘Here’s the things that were my pitfalls when I first came in,’ to where they can learn from. And now he’s helping them to make sure that they’re not walking in the same footsteps or making mistakes that a freshman makes early on to where they’re kind of accelerating their process too from a learning standpoint.”
On Bishop being limited as the star back in spring scrimmages
“We talked about it before each scrimmage. Here’s the rep count that we’re going into in that situation. Here’s why we’re doing this. Here’s the things that you need to work on. It may be in this particular practice or scrimmage, man, we don’t need to see you run the ball ten times. We may only limit you to five runs, but we’re gonna do a really good job of getting you in pass protection to where you gotta do a really good job in terms of maximizing those opportunities. He’s been good, and he understands the plan and the process in terms of, man, you’re not gonna sit up here and go try to win a championship in March and April. But if he gets a guy banged up, then you end up losing it from that standpoint. So he’s understood that in terms of here’s the things that I gotta work on. He knows, because we talk about that a lot, here’s the things that we gotta work on to make sure that it’s consistent pluses all the way through my game and no minuses. So he’s done a good job of that.”
On coaching his backs when there’s a younger quarterback
“Making sure that we’re doing a really good job being efficient on first downs when we’re running the ball, and being efficient on first downs when we’re throwing the ball, keeping that quarterback upright. I think when you sit up here and look at it, you hit on a keyword, when you got a young guy back there, the running game becomes his best friend in terms of maximizing those opportunities. Same situation in the passing game too, to where you’re making sure you’re doing a really good job of giving him a clean pocket, to where he’s able to drop back and push the ball down the field or get the ball out quick. He don’t have a bunch of trash in his face.
“So for us, just understanding we gotta keep the quarterback upright and keep him clean and at the same time, when we’re running the ball, you gotta go get more than what’s blocked up. In terms of putting us in second down and short situations, third down and short situations if it gets there. For us, we always talk about this: Being a running back means if I wanna be elite, I’m gonna get more than what’s blocked up front. So if they’re blocking it for four, I wanna get six. So we do a really good job of trying to maximize that in terms of helping the young guy out.”
On the offensive line in the run game this spring
“It’s been really good. I like all those guys that we got in that offensive line room. They have physicality about them. Our first eight practices, they have done a phenomenal job. I like the new pieces that we added, as well. You see we got some length in there. You see we got some guys that got a little bit more physicality from that standpoint. So as a whole, they’ve done a really good job in these first eight practices. Excited about that room that we get to run behind.”
