Tennessee was back on Haslam Field this morning for its fourth practice of fall camp. The Vols get their first off day of camp tomorrow as they get ready to put full pads on Sunday.
Of course, the “off day” just means no on field practice. Vols players will spend hefty amounts of time in the film room and weight room as the fall camp grind does not stop.
Tennessee’s practice was open to the media for slightly under 20 minutes as a Vol made his debut and another was absent.
Here’s our notes and observations from the fourth day of Tennessee’s fall camp.
Offense
Let’s start with the biggest news of the week as Clemson running back transfer Lyn-J Dixon made his practice debut Thursday morning after announcing his commitment Wednesday.
Dixon gives Tennessee a much needed body in its running back room. What he can give Vols on the field is yet to be seen.
The former Tennessee commit is small and does’t give the Vols the bruising running back they were looking for this offseason, but he did show good quickness in his first practice. Dixon was wearing No. 23
Tennessee’s receiver rotation was par for the course over the last few days. Ramel Keyton, Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman led the way in drills though Jimmy Holliday went before Tillman in one drill.
Jimmy Calloway and Squirell White followed behind Hyatt while Walker Merrill and freshman Kaleb Webb and Chas Nimrod followed behind Keyton. Bru McCoy continued to be one of the last Vols to get reps.
The tight ends were included in the routes on air portion with Jacob Warren leading the way followed by Princeton Fant and Miles Campbell.
The tight ends were included in routes on air Wednesday with Tennessee working with two pass catchers on each side of the quarterbacks. Tennessee worked on trips to the left on Thursday with Cedric Tillman’s group of receivers being on the lone side.
There’s only so much you can glean from routes on air but Tennessee continues to look really crisp in those sessions. It’s extremely rare for a Hooker or Milton pass to hit the ground. That’s all you can really ask for from that portion.
More From RTI: Hooker And Milton Building ‘Extremely Rare’ Relationship
Defense
Christian Charles and Cheyenne LaBruzza remained in red non contact jerseys while cornerback Kamal Hadden was absent from the portion of practice open to the media.
The interior and exterior of Tennessee’s defensive line spent the majority of the open sessions working separate from one another. Sixth year senior LaTrell Bumphus worked with the outside guys.
Bryson Eason earned the ire of Mike Ekeler at one point, having to repeat a rep on the ladders.
There was an emphasis on tackling in the defensive back room on Thursday morning. Corners worked on breaking down and taking correct angles as they rotated from ball carrier to tackler before tackling the the padded rings all the way to the ground.
Safeties worked on tackling too as well as some center field interception drills. No changes on which players were working where from the first three days of camp.
