Tennessee hit the practice field on Wednesday for the third time this week. The Vols have turned the book on Saturday’s disaster against Georgia State and are focusing on the BYU Cougars.
As was the case during Tuesday’s practice, freshmen Aaron Beasley and Jerrod Means were working at different positions once again on Wednesday. Beasley, who has worked with the safeties and inside linebackers, has been working with the running backs this week in practice. Means signed as a wide receiver, and after working at cornerback over the summer and during fall camp, was working as a receiver on Wednesday. He was a wearing a No. 14 jersey.
Defensive linemen Elijah Simmons and Kingston Harris continue to work on the scout team.
The running backs were abysmal in pass protection on Saturday against Georgia State. On Wednesday, David Johnson was working the backs through pass protection drills. From what I saw, Eric Gray was first through drills.
Tennessee’s offensive line worked through two-man drills. The left tackles worked with the left guards and the right tackles with the right guards.
Jahmir Johnson worked with Trey Smith, Wanya Morris worked with Ryan Johnson and Jahmir Johnson went through the line once again with Morris at left guard after the freshman worked at left tackle.
On the right side, Riley Locklear worked with Darnell Wright, K’Rojhn Calbert worked with Marcus Tatum, and Jerome Carvin worked at right guard with Calbert who also received work at right tackle.
Brandon Kennedy was consistently the first center through drills. Carvin received work at center behind him.
It was a typical day for the wide receivers and quarterbacks. Same rotation, same drills. For today’s routes-versus-air, however, the group was working on routes in the red zone. Maryland transfer Kasim Hill threw a couple of pretty passes, as did Jarrett Guarantano.
Defensively, Tracy Rocker was trying to light a fire under his defensive linemen. With Jeremy Pruitt watching, Rocker was hard on Savion Williams and Matthew Butler — two guys that Tennessee needs more out of if they’re going to improve up front.
The outside linebackers went through their typical pass-rushing drills with Chris Rumph, and the inside linebackers worked on wrapping up. Tennessee senior linebacker Daniel Bituli was more active throughout drills than on Tuesday’s practice. His status for Saturday’s game against BYU is still somewhat uncertain.
