Recruiting Forum Football Talk IV

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#177,579
#177,579
The WR group may be BETTER than last season once the dust settles.

If Squirrel and Walker are able to give us some additional threats to go along with Tillman, Hyatt, and Bru... and if our secondary group has improved (which I believe it has) then everyone will get better having to compete with one another each day.
 
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#177,582
#177,582
Practice No. 1 Observations

Tennessee football opened fall camp Monday morning on the Haslam Practice Field – no pads, just helmets. The acclimation period will take a few days before they get into full pads, likely later in the week. All in all – it looked like a solid workout as guys were flying around and taking coaching in stride.

The media was out there for about 50 minutes, seeing periods 0-8. This is the longest practice viewing session we will get as tomorrow it will go back down to the normal three viewing periods. Right off the bad, the team looked pretty healthy as only two players of note were donning red non-contact jerseys.

Christian Charles was in red today, but was going through every drill during individual and getting work in. Jaylen Wright was also in red, but later ditched the red jersey and went off to the side to do some work with a trainer. AP mentioned in Sunday’s 2-minute drill that the sophomore would be limited to begin fall camp.

It’s day one of camp and they aren’t even in pads yet – so as always – don’t take the groups to heart.

With that being said, the offensive line looked like this up front (l-to-r) JJ Crawford, Jerome Carvin, Cooper Mays, JaVontez Spraggins, Darnell Wight. The second group (l-to-r) was Gerald Mincey, Savion Herring, Addison Nichols, Ollie Lane and Dayne Davis. Jackson Lampley and Parker Ball were rotating in with the second team while Mincey and Crawford split first-team reps at left tackle.

At quarterback, of course it was the usual trio of Hendon Hooker, Joe Milton and Tayven Jackson – in that order. Because of the injury situation at running back, it was Jabari Small followed by Justin Williams-Thomas and Dylan Sampson – along with some walk-ons. Tight ends were Jacob Warren and Princeton Fant splitting first-team reps, followed by Miles Campbell and walk-ons.

At receiver, the first three up were Cedric Tillman, Ramel Keyton and Jalin Hyatt in the slot. The next three consisted of Jimmy Holiday and Walker Merrill on the outside with Jimmy Calloway in the slot. Bru McCoy was repping with the third team and looks like he’s got some work to do to get in football shape. Freshmen Chas Nimrod, Kaleb Webb and Squirrel White were all rotating in.

The defensive front started off with Byron Young, Omari Thomas, Bryson Eason and Tyler Baron while Roman Harrison, DJ Terry, Kurrott Garland and LaTrell Bumphus represented the second group. Elijah Simmons rotated in with those two groups while freshmen Tyree West, Jordan Phillips, Jayson Jenkins, James Pearce and Joshua Josephs all rotated around with the last two groups.

Jeremy Banks and Aaron Beasley were first two up from the middle layer of the defense while Juwan Mitchell and Solon Page followed. Freshman Elijah Herring and sophomore William Mohan manned the third-team on Monday.

In the secondary, let’s start with safety. The veteran duo of Jaylen McCollough and Trevon Flowers manned the first-team while Doneiko Slaughter and Andre Turrentine were up next. At cornerback, it was Warren Burrell and Brandon Turnage. It didn’t look like Charles got any reps in 11-on-11 (red jersey). At Star, Tamarion McDonald got the first look and was then followed by Wesley Walker.

A couple of takeaways: Wesley Walker and Andre Turrentine both looked good from a physical standpoint. The Ohio State transfer was seen knocking down a couple of passes today while freshman Christian Harrison held his own a few times against Jalin Hyatt. Tyree West had a good day (albeit, no pads on) in 11-on-11.

Bru McCoy looks like he needs to get in better shape – and that will come in time. Hyatt looked like he was having a good day while we were out there and that’s no surprise considering all the work he put in on the jugs machine this offseason. Kaleb Webb ran crisp routes and made a couple of nice catches during routes on-air.

Squirrel White was impressive in 1-on-1s as veteran defensive backs found it difficult to get a jam on him at the line of scrimmage. The freshman smoked past Flowers once for a long touchdown.

Didn’t really have any takeaways on the offensive line – outside of Miles Campbell completely whiffing on a block while playing tight. I did notice, even in day one with no pads on, the staff was rotating Mincey and Crawford at left tackle with the latter usually going first.

The running back position was extra thin today and that’s going to be a problem until at least one other body is added to the room. We’ll see if that happens, but with Whitehead out and Wright limited today – it was tough for that group to even have enough bodied to compete in some drills. I expect Fant to be placed in the backfield on some passing situations, or third downs, simply to pass block.

Overall, it appeared to be a good day as we were ushered off the field when period nine began some special teams work. Remember, it’s only day one and the pads aren’t even on yet – so lots will change.

Coming up at around 11 o’clock, Josh Heupel will take the podium and meet with the media again. Defensive freshmen Jourdan Thomas, Elijah Simmons, Joshua Josephs and Kalib Perry will get some media time as well.
Click to expand...

- Eric Cain, VQ
 
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#177,583
#177,583
What’s the RT competition look like? I remember adding a couple of bodies there, but who are we expecting to step up?

Biggest question mark heading into the season imo
 
#177,587
#177,587
ndubvols said:
What’s the RT competition look like? I remember adding a couple of bodies there, but who are we expecting to step up?

Biggest question mark heading into the season imo
Click to expand...

Darnell Wright will be the starting RT. The completion is for LT which seems to be between JJ Crawford and Gerald Mincey (who transferred from UF).
 
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#177,589
#177,589
ndubvols said:
What’s the RT competition look like? I remember adding a couple of bodies there, but who are we expecting to step up?

Biggest question mark heading into the season imo
Click to expand...
Darnell starts with the loser of the LT competition (Mincey or Crawford) as backup.
 
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#177,591
#177,591
Whitehead probably losing his place at RB if he's gonna miss with injury. JWT gonna take over that "big back" role easily imo.

Hopefully Wright gets healthy, wonder where they go to add some depth to that RB room though. Small repping with 2 freshmen isn't the best case scenario on Day 1 of Fall Camp (when you're typically at your healthiest). It'll help Dylan & JWT develop more at least, but we're gonna need more bodies or everyone to get and stay healthy.
 
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