Observations From Tennessee’s Open Practice

Tennessee returned to Neyland Stadium for the second time this week. Josh Heupel gave the public an open look at what his football team looks like halfway through spring practice and the VR2 on SI staff has their observations. 

Noticeable Absences/Injuries 

Tennessee scrimmaged on Thursday and a few guys were banged up or not participating. Roman Harrison and Jeremy Banks remained sidelined. Jalin Hyatt, Jay Blakey, Tyler Baron and Tiyon Evans worked as limited participants, with each guys spending time on the sidelines with the strength staff. Doneiko Slaughter wore a black jersey today and sported a cast to his left hand. Omari Thomas and Jabari Small were also absent from today’s event.

QB Play

Each guy had some really nice throws throughout the day. The pecking order today, as Tennessee continues to rotate quarterbacks, was Hooker, Maurer, and Bailey. Maurer threw well outside of the pocket, while Bailey looked the most poised in the pocket. Hooker struggled with consistency at times, but he did drop a dime down the sideline to Velus Jones Jr in 7v7 setting.

Young RB’s

With Small and Evans not out there, Jaylen Wright, Tee Hodge, and Dee Beckwith utilized the opportunity. Each guy flashed during the team setting, as Hodge and Beckwith showed their power, while Wright looked like our a Cadillac out in the open field and ripped a couple of really nice runs. 

OL/DL

The OL had another productive outing today, as they pushed the DL around in the ground game setting of the scrimmage. Dayne Davis continued to work with the ones. The starting group was Dayne Davis, Jerome Carvin, Cooper Mays, Jackson Lampley and Cade Mays. Dominic Bailey had a couple of nice plays for the second team DL. Byron Young also had a solid day running with the ones. 

Linebackers 

Tennessee is very thin here. Morven Joseph and Solon Page ran with the ones and it was walk-ons after. I thought Joseph had a solid day. But this position is going to be a concern for the Vols moving forward until they get some depth back. 

DB/WR

The DB’s struggled today at times. They did create some explosives as Christian Charles returned to full contact and had a great one handed grab to pick off Brian Maurer. Warren Burrell made a couple of really nice plays. Theo Jackson played the STAR position with the 1’s, while Kenneth George was the other outside corner opposite Burrell, with Flowers and McCollough playing safety. Alontae Taylor ran with the 2’s at corner. Cedric Tillman had a solid day at receiver and was probably the most consistent. He shined in the redzone. It is easy to see why the staff has raved about Jimmy Calloway. Walker Merrill returned to action and had a nice day. 

The practice was very efficient from start to minute, as the staff did not waste a single minute of time. Josh Heupel was very involved in multiple phases and rarely stayed in one spot long. It did feel like the coaching staff has meshed well together.