Practice Notes: Vols Spring Practice 3/22

Tennessee hit the practice field again on Thursday afternoon. The weather was much better, so things weren’t quite as sloppy as when UT practiced for the first time on Tuesday.

I was specifically watching the offensive and defensive line today. I was interested to see what those slim units looked like. Here are a few of my observations from Thursday’s session.

• On the offensive line, Jerome Carvin absolutely looks the part. He’ll need to get a little bit quicker, but I think he is coming in at an excellent size. Carvin worked alongside Ollie Lane in one drill specifically. Lane will need to put on some weight this offseason, but looks a bit quicker.

Offensive and defensive lines getting some work in today.

Full gallery and practice notes coming soon. pic.twitter.com/wv1dCGIwRN

— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) March 22, 2018

• The defensive line group is small. It’s worth noting that Austin Smith worked alongside Deandre Johnson and the other defensive ends as you can see in the above video.
• I thought the quarterbacks looked alright. Jarrett Guarantano was sharp. He threw a couple of nice balls to Jordan Murphy specificially. I think that Murphy can be one of the impact players coming out of camp. Tennessee needs him to step up and fill a major hole in the slot.
• Also on Guarantano — he looks like a different quarterback. You can tell he’s been in the weight room quite a bit over the past couple of months. He’s certainly much bigger and looks the part much more than he did last year as a redshirt freshman. That’s worth monitoring moving forward — how his size and physicality affects his play throughout the rest of practices and the Orange and White Game.
• The physicality overall was evident from the very start. Overall, the atmosphere at practice couldn’t be more different. There’s no music. There’s no air horn signifying the end of a practice period. It’s completely quiet. Besides the coaches yelling, of course. But when you compare these sessions to the Butch Jones era, things couldn’t be more different.
• Once again, Jeremy Pruitt was nowhere to be found. I actually didn’t see him the entire time media was allowed on the field. He was working with the defensive backs in the far corner of the practice facility. Much different than a head coach with a microphone patrolling the field.