Tennessee took the field for its second session on Tuesday evening – another warm night that saw temperatures in the high 80s with a good bit of humidity as the session got underway.
Here are some notes and observations from the open portion of practice:
Butch Jones started practice with one-on-one drills with some young defensive backs put on an island against some of the newcomers at wide receiver. It was a good day for the WRs, at least in this drill from the 5-yard line going in towards the end zone.
• Brandon Johnson made a nice move on Baylen Buchanan to get open and make a touchdown grab.
• Tyler Byrd showed off his strength on the next rep. Despite obvious pass interference from D.J. Henderson, Byrd powered inside on a slant route, made the grab and scored, even with the official throwing the flag for PI.
• Jeff George showed off his size on the final rep, getting to the corner of the end zone against the smaller Marquill Osborne, reaching up and making the grab.
I spent most of my time on the defensive field after that drill to get first impressions on the newcomers on that side of the ball.
Again, just as I said with the offense yesterday, they’re in helmets, jerseys and shorts at this point. It’s foolish to make too many conclusions, but I do like to give the “eye test” so to speak. These were some of my initial impressions:
• DE Jonathan Kongbo: Most of the buzz has been about the junior college transfer so far this spring, and from a physical perspective, he definitely has earned it. If you could build a defensive end, he would look a lot like Kongbo. He’s big, explosive and is showing great effort on the field so far. There was one drill on Tuesday where he got the best jump on the ball of the four defensive linemen and then beat them all down the field the opposite direction in the pursuit portion of that particular session. It was impressive.
And that’s all fantastic news for UT, but how will he look when the pads go on? Maybe more importantly, how much will he pick up the nuances of the defense? He’s simply never played at a high level of competition, so there will be a learning curve. He may just have the physicality to bust through it though.
Kongbo going through d-line drills pic.twitter.com/Gr6LnvE3Gi
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) August 2, 2016
• S Nigel Warrior: Warrior has been working with the safeties so far in camp. He’s as advertised in terms of size and athleticism. He’s another guy that will be fun to watch once the pads come on.
• CBs Baylen Buchanan: Didn’t see much of him other than some fundamental drills, but he looks like a fluid athlete with good enough size to play corner in the SEC. He got beat by Brandon Johnson in the aforementioned one-on-one drills, but that’s a tough drill for the DBs. I wouldn’t look too much into that at this point.
• LBs Daniel Bituli and Ja’Quain Blakely: The two newcomers at linebacker look very similar. Both are among the taller of the LBs on the team (Bituli at 6-3 and Blakely at 6-2). Both need to fill out their frame just a bit, but they look like good athletes that should be able to help on special teams early. Bituli will likely get his first crack at inside linebacker and Blakely will most likely work on the outside.
All of these defensive newcomers have what I would describe as adequate to plus size for their positions. That’s very noticeable with this group.
One other note on the defensive side not involving a newcomer: Kahlil McKenzie, as you’ve probably seen or heard, is significant lighter this camp. He’s moving much better and certainly will be a different player this year in terms of his ability to be disruptive. He won’t have the sheer size edge this season though, so he’ll need to adjust his game a bit.
A slimmer Kahlil McKenzie goes through d-line drills pic.twitter.com/tMzsEHEX4t
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) August 2, 2016
