After scrimmaging inside Neyland Stadium Sunday and not practicing Monday, Tennessee returned to Haslam Field Tuesday morning for its 13th practice of fall camp.
A handful of Vols were active participants in practice after being unavailable last week while a pair of Vols were newly limited at practice.
Here’s our notes and observations from Tennessee’s 13th fall practice.
Offense
Let’s start at receiver where Jimmy Calloway was in his practice jersey, shorts and no helmet while warming up and didn’t take part in the routes on air portion of practice.
On the flip side, freshman receiver Squirrel White was a full participant during the open portion of practice after being in a similar boat to Calloway last week.
With one slot receiver in and another out, Tennessee was crisp during the routes on air portion of practice. Hendon Hooker was consistent and on-the-money with one deep ball to Ramel Keyton.
We saw just three passes hit the ground Tuesday as Walker Merill couldn’t haul in a Joe Milton III deep ball and freshman quarterback Tayven Jackson misfired on a pair of passes.
Reps order was as usual with the receivers as Ramel Keyton, Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman led the way. Bru McCoy looks more comfortable as fall camp roars on. Josh Heupel was complimentary of McCoy’s scrimmage performance Sunday.
The tight ends started routes on air with the receivers before moving over to the side to work on blocking drills. Jacob Warren was not practicing Tuesday but is scheduled to meet with the media following practice. Likely just a maintenance day for the fifth-year senior.
Glen Elarbee split the left side of his offensive line from the right side as the groups focused on pass protection assignments for a portion of Tuesday’s open period.
Starting center Cooper Mays worked with the right side of the line including Javontez Spraggins and Darnell Wright while Jerome Carvin worked first with Jeremiah Crawford and then Gerald Mincey on the left side of the ball.
Take the second team with a grain of salt as there will be some movement within the starting offensive line if someone went down. However, Mincey worked with Ollie Lane on the left side and Parker Ball (center) worked with Jackson Lampley (right guard) and Jackson Lampley (right tackle).
Lyn-J Dixon was absent from the open portion of Tuesday’s practice as Jaylen Wright was not a full participant in certain drills. Wright has been hampered for all of fall camp. With kickoff 16 days away, Tennessee needs Wright to get to full speed and start to get in a rhythm.
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Defense
Let’s start with Kamal Hadden who was a full participant during the open portion of practice after missing time following the Vols’ first fall scrimmage. Georgia Tech transfer Wesley Walker was not on the practice field during the open portion of Tuesday’s practice. Cheyenne LaBruzza remained in a red non contact jersey as he has for much of the last 10 days.
It was business as usual as far as drill work for Tennessee’s defensive backs. Lots of footwork drills and some work on deep balls.
On to the linebackers, Solon Page III and Nebraska linebacker transfer Jackson Hannah were in red non contact jerseys while going through drills.
The linebackers did drill work practicing against play action passes.
Defensive tackle Elijah Simmons was back on the practice field Tuesday. The redshirt junior missed most of the last week of practice. Everything was par for the course for the defensive line drills as Tennessee remains relatively healthy at that position.
Jordan Phillips earned Rodney Garner’s ire while going through pass rush drills.
The New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns all had scouts at Tuesday’s practice.
