Two-A-Days Crank Up Training Camp Intensity

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The two-a-day practice schedule was once a daily staple of college football training camps all over the country.

As preseason schedules evolved and summer school became a bigger part of a team’s summer schedule, the two-a-day practices fell out of fashion, save for a few days in the middle of Tennessee’s camp schedule.

The Volunteers have three scheduled days with two practices, which is a number that has become the norm across the country. Though they are rare, the session are days that players and coaches actually looked forward to.

“The great thing about two-a-days is that we talk about getting 1 percent better everyday,” head coach Butch Jones said. “Now you have an opportunity to get 2 percent better with the two practices.”

Tennessee had its first two-a-day on Tuesday, with another scheduled for Thursday. The morning session on Haslam Field was a more of a standard practice, heavy on individual work in full pads. The night session put Team 119 in Neyland Stadium for the first time.

“We were really locked in,” redshirt senior offensive lineman Kyler Kerbyson said after the first day was complete. “The morning practice was a little easier and shorter with team work coming at night. We really look forward to these.”

Jones agreed.

“I thought our players had a great approach,” he said. “They came out and were very productive and very competitive.”

The team already spends nearly every moment of training camp together, something that has a positive effect on building bonds among position groups and with the team as a whole.

When not on the practice field or in meetings, the players are spending time together in the Anderson Training Center or at the hotel that the team calls home during the heart of camp. The time spent together away from the field can be just as important as the time spent on it.

“What we have to understand is that training camp is necessary because when you look at your total development as a football player, this is the time when you make the most progress and the most strides,” Jones said.

He has already seen the benefits on the field as the Volunteers near the halfway point of training camp.

“This is where your team is really born,” Jones said. “When you grind through training camp and suffer through adversity and persevere. I have been really pleased with our approach.”