The Vols took the practice field again on Thursday, but this time they were practicing under the lights and in some sprinkling rain. Despite the poor conditions, UT’s players were still expected to be on top of their game and practice with as much intensity as any other day. The Vols were also back in full pads tonight.
Here are our observations from a dreary Thursday night fall camp practice session:
One of UT’s highly-rated players is finally starting to show some consistency, the Vols’ QB battle takes another turn, and more in our Premium Practice Report from tonight’s practice!
- Once again, Tracy Rocker was displeased with the effort from the Vols’ defensive line early on during a drill and made them all jog from one end of the field to the other. Rocker demands excellence from his unit, and he won’t settle for less. UT’s defensive line was more up to his standard for the rest of the open portion of practice.
- Despite the less than ideal conditions, Tennessee’s receivers had a better day overall. Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway weren’t participating fully in drills, but the rest of UT’s wide receivers put together a better day than they have the rest of this week. Jordan Murphy looked good (despite him having a drop on a bullet pass on a short route over the middle later in a drill), and I was impressed with the speed and burst from Latrell Williams today. Tyler Byrd also stood out to me and had a good period, showing great hands and some excellent speed. He may be working his way up the depth chart some.
- Jarrett Guarantano has definitely improved his intangibles. His deep passes look much better, and he can make more throws than he did last year. Granted, we’ve really only seen him throw without any pressure and without his receivers being covered, but I’ve still been impressed with the growth I’ve seen from him.
- But Guarantano isn’t the only Vol QB who has looked good to me. Keller Chryst has looked more consistent lately, and that continued today too. He still has a longer delivery than Guarantano does, and I think that could get him in trouble if UT’s offensive line fails to protect effectively. It will be interesting to see how both of these QBs do in Tennessee’s second scrimmage this weekend.
- I think I’ve said before earlier this fall that I didn’t expect Kingston Harris to really come in and contribute a ton during his freshman season this year. But I think I’ve changed my mind on that based on the last week of fall camp. He’s looking fairly impressive for a true freshman, and he already has the type of size that UT’s coaches want on the defensive line. I think he’ll still be behind some of Tennessee’s other veteran defensive linemen, but I do really like what I’ve seen from Harris in terms of his mobility and physicality so far.
