The weather kept Tennessee football inside on the turf field at the Anderson Training Center Thursday morning as the Vols hit the field for the second time this fall camp. Tennessee remained in helmets only before putting shells on Friday
After watching nine periods Wednesday, the media watched just three periods periods of practice Thursday— roughly 20 minutes.
There’s only so much to glean from 20 minutes not in full pads. But nevertheless, here’s our notes and observations from practice No. 2.
Offense
Sophomore receiver Squirrel White was the only offensive player I didn’t see on the practice field Thursday morning. With the practice inside, the media’s view was slightly limited. So he might have been out there working on the side but he didn’t go through routes on air with the rest of Tennessee’s tight ends and receivers.
On to the routes on air portion of practice where Bru McCoy, Ramel Keyton and Oregon transfer Dont’e Thornton all led the way at their respective positions. Tennessee was working mostly on the short passing game, not throwing the ball more than 15 yards down the field.
Joe Milton III was extremely accurate and crisp in the period. Only one pass Milton threw while the media was present, ironically the last pass we saw, hit the ground and it was an accurate throw that Keyton dropped. Milton also provided instruction to transfer tight end McCallen Castles between reps as they discussed where he should sit down on a curl route.
Freshman Nico Iamaleava is clearly more comfortable and confident than he was in the spring, but he was definitely less accurate than Milton. No glaring issues but high throws seemed to be the consistent shortcoming.
The running backs were all accounted for and going through drills Thursday after Dylan Sampson didn’t go through team portions of practice Wednesday. Like we mentioned yesterday, Jaylen Wright just looks really impressive right now and appears poised for a big season.
Senior Jabari Small was providing some instruction for freshman Khalifa Keith on ball security while they went through drills. You don’t want to read too much into these things but the depth and teaching from the Vols’ veterans was noticeable the first two days of practice.
There’s not too much to draw from offensive line work when they’re not wearing pads, but I did get my first up close look at freshman Sham Umarov today. There was some debate among the recruiting sites whether Umarov was a tackle or guard in college but he has a tackle body in my estimation. If the feet and handwork follow suit, the former four-star looks like he’ll play tackle in college— a needed sign for an offensive line that will have little offensive tackle depth following this season.
More From RTI: Transfer Receiver Dont’e Thornton Has A Special Skillset
Defense
Tennessee’s defense was fully accounted for on the practice field Thursday morning.
The biggest observations of note on the defensive line was sophomore Tyre West and freshman Daevin Hobbs worked with the strong side defensive ends and not with the defensive tackles during the drill portion of practice. That’s an interesting development because Tennessee’s interior defensive line is a little thin after Da’Jon Terry transferred to Oklahoma earlier this summer.
West worked at both spots last season and Hobbs was a defensive tackle recruit. Both are small for the interior but we’ll see where they end up at this fall. Hobbs long term future still seems more likely to be in the interior.
Watching Tennessee’s linebackers work now compared to two years ago is pretty darn crazy. When Heupel and linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary arrived Tennessee was decimated at the spot. Now it might be the deepest group on the Vols’ defense.
Aaron Beasley is poised for a massive season and I’m excited to see sophomore Elijah Herring and freshman Arion Carter who both look the part in addition to BYU transfer Keenan Pili who will certainly play a big role this fall.
After day one, the most intriguing development in the secondary is Andre Turrentine. The Nashville native didn’t play any last season after transferring from Ohio State, but was working with the starters Wednesday. He’s always looked the part so if he can put it all together it would be an exciting development for Tennessee.
While Turrentine was working with the starters over super senior Jaylen McCollough it still feels like McCollough is the leader of the secondary— at least the safeties. He’s been very vocal the first two days of camp and has provided instruction for younger players.
