Tennessee football returned to the Anderson Training Center on Tuesday morning for its second spring practice on another cold March morning.
The Vols were in helmets and no other pads while practice was open to Tennessee for 10 periods on Tuesday for roughly 45-50 minutes. I had to leave after 30 minutes to get over to a basketball media availability but Ric Butler provided me with notes from the final stretch of practice including the results of receiver/tight ends vs. defensive backs one-on-ones.
Here’s our notes and observations from practice the Vols’ second spring practice.
Offense
Let’s start with who was limited. Javontez Spragins, Andrej Karic, Nathan Leacock and Bru McCoy worked off to the side again and didn’t go through drills. Cooper Mays was somewhat limited going through drills and didn’t do any work during team portions.
Got a little bit longer look at Nico Iamaleava today whose upper body is definitively bigger than it was at this time a year ago and really bigger than it was even in the fall. He was relatively sharp during the routes on air portion of practice as the Vols mostly worked on the short passing game. The redshirt freshman did miss one throw over the middle and quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Joey Halzle talked him through things afterwards.
It wasn’t a crisp routes on air portion of practice for early enrollee quarterback Jake Merklinger. He missed a number of throws and Josh Heupel gave him sone hands on coaching with the mechanics after a couple misses.
Sophomore tight end Ethan Davis has clearly gained some weight this offseason and is bigger in the upper body. That’s big for the talented pass catcher because his ability to hold up blocking will be critical to his success this season.
Notre Dame tight end transfer Holden Staes is a very physically put together tight end and I expect the two will serve as co-starters next season.
While doing some brief 11v11 work, Tennessee’s starting offense included Dont’e Thornton and Chas Nimrod as the starting outside receiver. Squirrel White as the starting slot receiver. Dylan Sampson was the starting running back and Ethan Davis was the starting tight end. The starting offensive line left-to-right was Lance Heard, Dayne Davis, Vysen Lang, Jackson Lampley and John Campbell Jr.
Chris Brazzell Jr, Dayton Snead and Kaleb Webb were the second team receivers. Holden Staes was the second team tight end while Cameron Seldon was the second team running back.
Nate Spillman, Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews were the third string receivers. Alabama transfer Miles Kitselman was the third string tight end.
Defense
The injury updates are the same as yesterday. Elijah Herring and Christian Charles were both working off to the side. Sophomore linebacker Arion Carter went through drills with his teammates but did it without a helmet on and then didn’t participate in team portions of practice.
Defensive tackle Omari Thomas and defensive end Dominic Bailey are the elder leaders in Tennessee’s defensive line room. They led the way in every drill during the open portions of practice. Redshirt freshman defensive lineman Nathan Robinson is much bigger and more physical than he was a season ago.
I got my first real look at early enrollee linebacker Edwin Spillman. It’s easy to see why he was a tackling machine in high school. He’s a physical linebacker whose build reminds me a lot of Arion Carter from a season ago but just a little bit thinner.
Spent some time watching the safety group work where Jourdan Thomas, Edrees Farooq, Boo Carter, Jakobe Thomas, Christian Harrison, Andre Turrentine, William Wright, Will Brooks and John Slaughter were working. It’s clear that early enrollee Boo Carter is a great athlete. Tim Banks was giving him some hands on coaching during the open portions of practice.
The safety group was working on same angle tackling (without actually tackling drills) as they attempted to time up ball carriers staggering their speed.
One-on-One results
-Dont’e Thornton caught a pass over Rickey Gibson from Nico Iamaleava
-Squirrel White caught a pass over Christian Harrison from Nico Iamaleava
-Andrew Turrentine broke up an pass intended for Ethan Davis on an in route.
-Kaleb Webb beat Jermod McCoy on an out route and hauled in the pass.
-Jordan Matthews broke up a pass on an in route intended for Chas Nimrod.
-A pass intended for Trey Weary was incomplete. John Slaughter was in coverage.
-Miles Kitselman hauled in a pass.
-Braylon Staley made a nice catch over Boo Carter in coverage.
-Ethan Davis hauled in a pass with Jordan Matthews in coverage.
-Chris Brazzell made a nice catch with Jermod McCoy in coverage.
-Mike Matthews hauled in a pass with Kaleb Beasley in coverage.
