After a day off on Monday, the Vols were back out on the practice field on Tuesday afternoon for their ninth open portion of fall camp in 2018. The weather was cloudy and not as hot as it has been, and the players were back out in full pads once again.
Here are our notes and observations from the Vols’ Tuesday practice session:
Is someone making a move on the Vols’ depth chart at receiver? What unit is looking like the most improved position from last year? Read that and more in our Premium Practice Report from today’s practice!
- Once again, there were far too many drops by receivers during passing drills today. I counted at least five or six in the five or six minutes I observed the quarterbacks and wide receivers. Jauan Jennings had a drop, but he was far from the only one. They weren’t all on the receivers, as at least one of the drops was due to an errant Keller Chryst throw. But there were still just way too many drops today.
- Speaking of Jennings, he was back out and running routes today and seemed to be a full go. According to Jeremy Pruitt, he didn’t participate fully in Sunday’s scrimmage after hyperextending himself earlier in the week. But he appeared to be doing everything Tennessee’s other receivers were doing today.
- I thought Tyler Byrd put in a good day of practice today from what we got to see. His place in the receiver rotation is going to be interesting to discover. He hasn’t looked spectacular in the open portion of practice, but he’s typically avoided some of the more costly mistakes other receivers have made. He could find playing time at slot this year depending on how other things shake out at that position.
- The more I see from Tennessee’s outside linebackers, the more I think that unit could be in store for a big improvement this year. I still don’t expect the Vols to be one of the best pass rushing teams in the SEC, but I do like what I’ve seen consistently from Darrell Taylor and Jordan Allen. After a somewhat slow start to fall camp (at least in my eyes), I think Jonathan Kongbo has improved and keeps looking better too.
- I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: After the Vols’ top two players at tight end, I don’t really know what they have depth wise. I do think Austin Pope and Ja’Quain Blakely will be good fullbacks/H-backs in the Vols’ new offense, but I don’t really think they’ll end up playing a whole lot of pure tight end. Dominick Wood-Anderson and Eli Wolf both have looked pretty good in practice, but I just don’t think the depth overall is there at that position right now.
- I thought overall today that Jarrett Guarantano had a slightly better practice than Keller Chryst, but we only got to see about six or seven minutes of the quarterbacks throwing to receivers. I know Pruitt said that nobody has truly separated themselves yet in the QB battle, but I still think that Guarantano has a slight lead. It’s not as big of a lead as some have claimed, in my opinion, but I do think he has shown a little more than Chryst to this point.
