#VolReport: FANS ENERGIZE OPEN PRACTICE

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Head coach Butch Jones said that performing in front of the home crowd was a great experience for the team as it prepares for its 2015 season opener against Bowling Green on Sept. 5 in Nashville.

“Tonight was absolutely invaluable,” Jones said . “Any time you can have a practice and be able to compete in front of your fans [it’s great]. I’d like to start off and thank everyone for coming out. Around 40,000 people again is very, very special for a practice, but it is a tremendous evaluation tool too see how our players perform when there are people in the stands.”

The Pride of the Southland Band was on hand, playing famliar favorites and the UT alma mater at the end of practice. The cheerleaders energized the crowd and VFLs were on hand to share in the excitement of the coming season.

The winners of the “One of 119” contest were in the stands after following various social media clues over the last four months to locate 119 special prize boxes around the country. Each box included a new Nike Vol t-shirt, game tickets and an invitation to sit in a special section at Saturday’s practice. Jones interacted with the “One of 119” winners and signed autographs after practice.

 

Welcome Back, Berry

VFL great and current Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry made his return to football on Saturday in the Chiefs’ preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals.

Berry made his triumphant return to the game after defeating Hodgkin’s lymphoma this offseason. The Cardinals flashed a “Welcome Back” message on their scoreboard and Berry shared an emotional embrace with his mother before hitting the field.

“I would be very remiss if I did not talk about the captain in Arizona tonight, Vol for Life Eric Berry, in his return to the playing field,” Jones said. “I think that is one of the greatest stories in all of football and one of the greatest stories in all of life. It is very, very special. I got some pictures of him getting off that team plane, and just seeing the smile and the excitement in his face and his teammates [was great]. We will be watching and wanted to wish him well.”

 

Dobbs Encouraged by Growth of Young WRs

As the timing between Tennessee starting quarterback Joshua Dobbs and his bevy of wide receivers continues to tighten, the junior signal-caller likes the development he has seen out of two young talents: freshmen Jauan Jennings and Vincent Perry.

Jennings’ switch from quarterback to wide receiver has been widely documented, and the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, product proved just how far he’s come with a leaping grab in the back of the end zone during one-on-one drills on Friday night.

“Jauan has been doing a great job,” Dobbs said. “Every day he comes hungry and ready to learn. He might make a mistake but he makes it full-go and he’ll correct it the next time, which is great to see out of a young guy.”

Meanwhile, Perry–a three-star wide receiver out of Nashville–turned some heads with some big plays under the lights as well. Perry will be looking to add his talents to an experienced group of Vol wide receivers when Team 119 opens the season in his hometown on Sept. 5.

“Vincent Perry–you saw it tonight, he made some really good catches,” Dobbs said. “He’s still learning, still progressing just like Jauan–just like any young guy–but he’s making plays out there, which we love to see.”

 

Johnson Likes Switch to Offense

Jakob Johnson made the switch to tight end last week and so far so good for the sophomore from Stuttgart, Germany.

“I’ve surprised myself,” Johnson said. “I’m actually kind of decent on the routes and breaking defenders off in the open. But I’m working after practice, and I’m sure catching is something that I can learn with just working on it.”

Johnson credits his teammates for helping him make the quick transition.

“Ethan [Wolf], he’s been giving me his notes, and kind of showing me the ropes, or the older guys like Alex Ellis,” he said. “He’s been really showing me how to play the position, how to adjust my footwork and stuff.”

Johnson arrived in Knoxville as a linebacker and spent his freshman season and all of spring practice working on defense. On Day 4 of fall camp the coaches switched Johnson to tight end. After eight days of work Johnson knows he has a lot of work ahead of him.

“You’re involved in the run game and in the pass game,” he said. “So, you have got to know the route concepts and what you’re doing on the runs.”

Quarterback Josh Dobbs thinks Johnson will bring a new element to the talented group of tight ends.

“He’s made the transition really well,” Dobbs said. “I think his physicality really played a big part and he brings a dynamic to that tight end group. I think the tight end group is really growing every day. Tight ends play a key part in our offense.”

Johnson agreed saying, “You still have to be pumped up enough to go and hit somebody as hard as you can. Personally, I really like it. Tight end is a position that if you work hard, you can get good at it. So I like the move.”

 

SOUND BITES

• Junior QB Joshua Dobbs(On practicing at Neyland stadium in front of spectators)“It’s always full-go for us. We don’t really take any days off so anytime we step on the field we’re working to get better. We talk about it all the time. So it’s just another opportunity for us to perfect our craft, work on our timing, and–as they said–for the young guys to get exposed to Neyland Stadium, under the lights, in front of our great fans.”

  (On how facing the Vol defense prepares him)

  “It pushes us. We compete against the defense every day. You know, orange and white. We’re competing every day, we keep score most of the days. So it’s great, we’ve had a lot of great practices where the defense pushes the offense one day and the offense pushes the defense the next day, which we need as a team coming together. We talk about it every day, we’ve got to play complementary football. That’s offense playing effectively and defense playing effectively and we’re doing a great job of that right now.”

   

• Sophomore DB Emmanuel Moseley(On Saturday’s Open Practice at Neyland Stadium)“We got a good amount of work in today. It was a technique day, so we wanted to come out here and clean up our technique and do a good job.”

  (On the benefit of the open practice for newcomers)

  “It can definitely help them a lot because this about fifty thousand [people] but a home game for is 102,455. This gives them a little few. They will have to experience it though, but I know they will be ready for it.”

   

• Sophomore TE Jakob Johnson(On the difficulty of playing tight end)“Yeah, it’s a lot of stuff happening at the same time. You have got to pick up fast. You know, it’s because you’re involved in both. You’re involved in the run game and in the pass game. So, you have got to know the route concepts and what you’re doing on the runs, you know.”

   

• Sophomore TE Ethan Wolf(On playing with his brother)“It’s good, good. When he caught that touchdown in one on ones I got pretty excited. He’s doing a good job. He’s got to thicken up a little bit, which everybody knows. He’s getting his weight up there and he’s learning, you know in the tight end room and on the field just from experience. Coach Elder is coaching him up.”

  (On going fishing with other tight ends this summer)

  “We have some outdoorsmen: me, Eli [Wolf], and Joe Stockstill. We were thinking one day, `Why don’t we just go fishing?’ That led to another time and Alex came with us. I think that has built big chemistry between us because we just…still to this day before practice we are making jokes that pertain to us fishing and things that happened. So, we definitely boded more.”

   

• Sophomore DL Derek Barnett(On how freshmenDarrell Taylor and Kyle Phillips are progressing)“They’re coming along well. They’re playing good football, good pass rush. I’m excited for those guys.”

  (On whether the defensive line has set the tone this fall camp)

  “Everyday I feel like we get pressure. If one or two guys are down, we have a lot of depth on the D-Line and we have a lot of talent. Everyday we get pressure on the quarterback.”

   

• RS Senior LB/DL Curt Maggitt(On how the young guys are fitting in)“They fit in well, they fit in real well. I think we’ve got a close-knit defensive line group, starting with Coach Stripling – a real good coach that cares about us a lot. So it just trickles down to all of us as players.”

  (On his leadership skills)

  “Coming in from high school back home at Dwyer, I was a pretty vocal guy. When I got here I hung around [Herman Lathers] a lot. I don’t know if a lot of you guys know that. I was real close with Herm. So I learned a lot from them. When Coach Jones and his staff came in, they helped mold me a lot. Coach Ike [Brown], Antone [Davis], just having a lot of mentors and kind of seeing what the team needed, and trying to fill that role, do the best I can, to the best of my abilities.