Tennessee football hit the Haslam Practice Field Monday for its fifth fall practice and its its final practice before putting the full pads on.
The media got to watch just three periods of practice, roughly 20 minutes, so as always there’s only so many takeaways to gather.
Here’s our notes and observations from practice the Vols’ fifth fall practice.
Offense
The only pure offensive absence I noted from Monday’s practice was center Cooper Mays. Mays has had injury concerns in the past which has made the Vols’ backup center competition one of great importance this fall. With Mays out today, Parker Ball, Vysen Lang and Braden Krivosh all earned extra reps at the spot.
One person who I surprisingly didn’t see get any center reps in Mays’ absence is redshirt freshman Addison Nichols. Nichols repped exclusively at center in the spring but is in the competition for the starting left guard spot. The Georgia native could have repped at center but I didn’t see any in the limited time I watched the offensive line.
Receivers Bru McCoy, Squirrel White and freshman Nathan Leacock were all fully dressed out but stayed inside the Anderson Training Center for work once the team went outside to run routes on air. That created more opportunities for guys like Chas Nimrod, Kaleb Webb and Nathan Leacock.
It was an efficient routes on air period of practice today. Receiver’s coach Kelsey Pope was working as a cornerback today and challenging his guys during and after reps. He offered plenty of coaching including some for Dont’e Thornton who was quick to pick up on his mistake.
Few balls hit the ground in routes on air today. The Vols worked on deep throws for the first time in the open portions of practice so far this camp. Joe Milton III had some slight under throws but nothing bad. His best deep ball of the open portion of practice was ironically a Ramel Keyton drop.
Freshman tight end Ethan Davis continues to impress with how crisp he is running routes as a freshman. Fellow freshman Emmanuel Okoye didn’t have any drops I noticed Monday after struggling a bit catching the football in the first week of fall.
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Defense
No true absences on the defensive side of the ball but a few defensive backs were limited in what they did. STAR Tamarion McDonald and safety Wesley Walker were back dressed out and warming up after missing Saturday’s practice but neither went out to the Haslam Practice Field to participate in drills post warm ups.
McDonald and safety Jourdan Thomas stayed inside to work on different drills while I didn’t spot Walker inside or outside during the open portion of practice.
We’ve touched on how the interior of the defensive line is a little thin already this camp but haven’t touched on how deep Tennessee is at strongside defensive end. Tyler Baron and Dominic Bailey both led the team in snaps at the spot a season ago and are back.
The Vols also have talented underclassmen Tyre West, Tyree Weathersby and Daevin Hobbs trying to break into the rotation at that spot.
Behind Roman Harrison, Tennessee’s LEO competition is fierce too with sophomores Josh Josephs and James Pearce Jr. as well as freshman Caleb Herring looking to make an impact at that spot.
Former Tennessee defensive end and new analyst Robert Ayers Jr. was working with the ends and LEOs during today’s open portion of practice.
Inside linebacker’s coach Brian Jean-Mary wasn’t happy with his group’s energy early today and was getting onto the guys for walking between reps. The one note of interest at linebacker is that freshman safety Jack Luttrell went through a drill with the linebackers.
Luttrell isn’t likely to play anything other than special teams this year but that could be an interesting long term development.
Tennessee’s defensive backs were working on tip drills during the open portion of practice. One player that continues to intrigue me is BYU transfer corner Gabe Jeudy-Lally. His athleticism isn’t elite but his 6-foot-2, 190-pound frame gives him some leeway there and he still moves smoothly.
There’s tons of competition at cornerback and Doneiko Slaughter seems like the only starter penciled into a spot right now. Jeudy-Lally might not be the next guy on the list but I have a hard time thinking he won’t get plenty of chances early in the season.
