Jay Graham Talks Progress of Freshmen Running Backs, Importance of Bye Week

Jay Graham returned to Knoxville in January to replace David Johnson, who left Tennessee to join Mike Norvell's inaugural staff in Tallahassee. Graham has only been available to the media once since arriving at Tennessee, but he spoke with the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Monday. He fielded several questions including the status of his freshmen running back group. Graham inherited an interesting running back situation, with Eric Gray and Ty Chandler returning as the front-runners of the group, and uncertainty beyond that following the dismissal of Tim Jordan. The Vols signed three running backs in 2020; Tee Hodge, Jabari Small, and Len'neth Whitehead, and they have since been joined by all-purpose athlete, Dee Beckwith. 

Graham said on the group during Monday's zoom call:

^{Well, I'll start with Jabari Small. Jabari is a young man — I'd say about five-ten, 190 — very strong for his size. He has an ability to break some tackles. He does catch the ball well out of the backfield. He's getting better and better as far as his knowledge of the offense. You saw him a couple times flash for us, so I think when people talk about those younger guys, this week right here is very important for him. Dee Beckwith is a young man that came in as an athlete, and he's done well in scrimmages, and now he's starting to understand, 'Hey, this is how we study. This is how you get yourself prepared to go play.' So he's doing a lot better in practice in these last couple weeks. He's a bigger guy. He's a six-foot-three and a half, six-foot-four,  215- or 220-pound guy, and he's hard to tackle in open field. Another one is Len'Neth Whitehead. He was recovering from a couple injuries that he had coming in, but he is really getting better, and this is an important week because he's healthy now. So, it is really important for him to get better this week. Tee Hodge is a young man, the last couple weeks, he's really come on strong, and he' s right behind Jabari right now, as far as competing for those game reps. He's a bigger-bodied guy at 220 that, it's hard to tackle him in open field, and he's getting a better understanding of the offense."}

So far this season only three backs have touched the ball, with Gray (79), Chandler (62), and Small (11) seeing action to this point. The Vols are still in need of a downhill, hammer-style back, and it appears Hodge or Whitehead could offer that. All reports from fall camp indicated that Hodge was in line to be the third back in the rotation before being setback by a minor injury. 

Graham added on the importance of the bye week, "This is our open week, and we have a lot of work to get done, as far as getting our guys on the field and taking advantage of our reps that we get in practice this week. We’ve got some young guys, also, that we have to continue to progress, and we're really looking forward to this second half of the season, progressing, and getting our guys to take that next step. I'm very excited about that."

The Vols will certainly look to create competition and improve depth across the board during this bye week.