Tuesday practice 8.16.16

[Fingers]

updates

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7wWVnWNMcM[/youtube]

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[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijA5GV3wuPw[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlP5fjqIXAo[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGilfZBWWkY[/youtube]

VQ Highlights: https://player.vimeo.com/video/179089086

I thought the quarterbacks threw the ball nicely today. Dobbs in particular had a good day throwing the ball from my perspective. We got to see him throw the corner route for a number of reps and I think he was spinning it really nicely.

Guarantano and Dormady threw the ball nicely as well, but Dobbs has looked a little more consistent of late.

I thought the receivers did a good job of catching the ball as well and can only remember one ball on the ground and that was from an overthrow.

Fort

I thought it was another solid day for Dobbs during the open periods we were able to watch. He again had air under his ball and threw a very nice pass to Ethan Wolf on a post-corner route. Only two green jerseys (JRM and Austin Smith) which is a good sign for this team. It's all about health for a good number of the veterans. The wide-out group of Josh Smith and Josh Malone looks like they carry themselves with more swagger by the day. Just the way they get in and out of routes looks so much easier than in years past.

Price

On kickoff team right now it looks like Marquill Osborne is the only freshman on the team right now, lots of sophs.

The more I see of Austin Pope the more I like him. Good looking athlete with some nice hands. Had several nice catches today and looks like he's getting more and more comfortable. Devante Brooks is a good looking guy physically, but right now Pope seems to be a much smoother and more fluid athlete. Obviously, Brooks has been hampered by his injuries, but Pope is a nice looking prospect.

In the secondary it's easy to see the that the competition is intense at safety/nickel. That continues to be where Bob Shoop spends the majority of his time in individual work and he's got some nice pieces to work with. Looked like Nigel Warrior was having another nice day and Micah Abernathy could be heard drawing some praise from the coaches.

Lewis

The depth is showing up in that area as kickoff coverage had the fewest number of starters ever in the Butch Jones era working in that drill. Now the line up is by no means set, but some freshmen and and quality back ups were the focal point on Tuesday with guys like Osborne, Griffin, McDowell getting alot of reps.

In the routes versus air, again I think the completion percentages are higher than they have been in years past. And will J. Guarantano likely won't factor in this fall unless there is injury to that position, he continues to throws it really well. Going to be fun to watch him grow and develop. Overall, I thought it was a good start to the day for all the quarterbacks. I think Dobbs has thrown it particularly well the last couple of practices.

Hubbs

But Warrior continues to shine; he drew praise from defensive coordinator Bob Shoop for so seamlessly working a drill designed to both get off an initial block and avoid a cut-block.

Robert Gillespie worked a newer drill with tailbacks, tossing them a pass to catch and then turn to run through the chute. Alvin Kamara and John Kelly dominated the reps among the scholarship backs on the field today.

At defensive end, Kyle Phillips, Jonathan Kongbo, LaTroy Lewis, and Darrell Taylor were the primary rep guys from a scholarship player standpoint.

And in the back-end, scholarship safeties Todd Kelly Jr., Micah Abernathy, Nigel Warrior and Stephen Griffin got extensive work with Bob Shoop, along with the out-of-green MaLeik Gatewood.

Brice

Tennessee’s quarterbacks and centers got in some good work with both shotgun and under-center snaps, with Coleman Thomas, Dylan Wiesman, Venzell Boulware and Jack Jones working as the centers to the Vols’ four quarterbacks. After the centers left to rejoin the rest of the offensive line — with Wiesman and Jones challenging each other to a sprinting contest along the way — the quarterbacks worked on their option pitches, which they’ve done ever since Jones and his staff arrived four years ago.

A couple of quick observations from Tennessee’s pass-skeleton drills: Freshman wide receiver Tyler Byrd is impressively fast, and it’s not tough to see why he leads the Tennespeed drills at an absurd 23.7 mph. I still think redshirt freshman tight end Eli Wolf is going to prove to be a steal for Tennessee as a walk-on. Not sure if he’ll prove that this season, but he’ll prove it at some point. As for the true freshman tight ends, I think Austin Pope is definitely smoother than Devante Brooks, at least at this point. That’s not to suggest Brooks isn’t athletic — he’s certainly not a bad athlete — but he’s a bit more cumbersome than Pope when he runs. Perhaps that’s a byproduct of his missing the past two seasons with ACL tears.

Rucker

Junior kicker Aaron Medley appeared to place the ball well and had solid distance on his directional kickoffs during the brief drill. It was the first time media have gotten a chance to see Medley in action during preseason camp.

At safety, junior Todd Kelly Jr., freshman Nigel Warrior, sophomore Stephen Griffin and Abernathy received most of the reps during positional drills. Redshirt sophomore Rashaan Gaulden worked with the cornerbacks during the portion of practice that was open to media, and he now appears to be spending more time at nickelback after shifting to safety earlier this year and opening preseason camp there. Gaulden still is getting some work at safety, too, but at the moment he’s primarily battling with Malik Foreman to be the Vols’ starting nickel.

Callahan

Grant Ramey: Jeff George having fun with the jugs machine during Tuesday's practice. https://vine.co/v/5h03BFTFAJq

Less players in green jerseys doesn't mean they've all shed green jerseys. Some are due to practice absences, but we can't report those.

 

[WillisWG]

FootVols

 

[Jax_Vol]

Fingers is winding up and here is the pitch.....

 

[BleedingButch]

F5 f5 f5 f5 f5 f5 f5 f5 f5 f5 f5 f5

 

[Jax_Vol]

'Nigel the Nickel'..!



that could be exciting as ****!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Love hearing that JG seems to be the real deal. Swain was very impressed on twitter with the kid. The future is bright at QB.

 

[jtcrisp]

It's looking like Nigel is making his claim to start alongside TK at safety! Impressive considering Gaulden is a beast.

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

Our secondary is super-talented. I could see the 2 deep breaking down like this:

CB - Sutton/Buchanan
CB - Martin/Moseley
NB - Gaulden/Foreman
FS - Abernathy/Griffin
SS - Kelly/Warrior

Really strong 2-deep IMO.

 

[VonVol]

Our secondary is super-talented. I could see the 2 deep breaking down like this:

CB - Sutton/Buchanan
CB - Martin/Moseley
NB - Gaulden/Foreman
FS - Abernathy/Griffin
SS - Kelly/Warrior

Really strong 2-deep IMO.

Well, that's taken care of. The coaches can move on to other areas now.

I kid. That is a lot of talent. Still sounds like Martin has a lot of work to do if he wants to start though.

 

[Mick]

It's looking like Nigel is making his claim to start alongside TK at safety! Impressive considering Gaulden is a beast.

Things just got interesting.:thumbsup:

 

[ntxVOL]

It's looking like Nigel is making his claim to start alongside TK at safety! Impressive considering Gaulden is a beast.

If he's that good then great. Gaulden will just move to nickel and take that spot.

 

[butchna]

It's looking like Nigel is making his claim to start alongside TK at safety! Impressive considering Gaulden is a beast.

BIG fan of Gaulden! Was excited what he'd bring from safety this season. Warrior has surprised me. This is composite 5 star...top 5 type progress imo. What we think we were never in on in J Stevens is already on the roster...but better at safety. (I said it )

 

[joevol33]

I love you Fingers😁 Thanks man.

 

[TBtheGBwiththeTD]

Our secondary is super-talented. I could see the 2 deep breaking down like this:

CB - Sutton/Buchanan
CB - Martin/Moseley
NB - Gaulden/Foreman
FS - Abernathy/Griffin
SS - Kelly/Warrior

Really strong 2-deep IMO.

Right now I'd flip Moseley and Martin based on what we've heard. Also, when do we move Evan Berry to RB or WR? If he's going to be buried on defense, may as well try to get him the ball a few more times a game.

 

[zeppelin128]

.

 

[VolFan_N_NC]

It looks like Jeff George, Marcus Tatum and Tyler Byrd all lost their black stripe today.

Link: Three Vols newcomers shed helmet stripes

 

[Vols4us]

Right now is flip Moseley and Martin based on what we've heard. Also, when do we move Evan Berry to RB or WR? If he's going to be buried on defense, may as well try to get him the ball a few more times a game.

Have brought this up repeatedly since he arrived. Use the guy in space. They have 4 guys in the two deep at S with a first team quality guy in Gaulden moved to nickel. That's 5 quality safeties for two slots. Get Evan the ball. That's where he belongs.

 

[Pacer92]

Mykelle McDaniel with his first practice as a vol...good to see.

Freshman DL joins Vols, makes practice debut

 

[Pacer92]

It's looking like Nigel is making his claim to start alongside TK at safety! Impressive considering Gaulden is a beast.

Very impressive...

Another EB?

 

[csheaton]

Agree. Berry would be great as a wildcat QB a few plays a game. I think he played some QB in high school as well. And Wild Berry just sounds right!

 

[Vol$_Deep_11_9]

I like to keep seeing them talk about Dobbs improving with the air game. Always like improvement but that's huge, a good air game is the difference between us just making the sec championship and winning it IMO.

 

[illvol]

Agree. Berry would be great as a wildcat QB a few plays a game. I think he played some QB in high school as well. And Wild Berry just sounds right!

Not sure why you would take one of the best running quarterbacks who can audible and read defenses out to bring in a guy that can't and is ONLY a running threat. How would that help us?

 

[LittleVol]

Not sure why you would take one of the best running quarterbacks who can audible and read defenses out to bring in a guy that can't and is ONLY a running threat. How would that help us?

There's 3 styles of QB
Drop back pocket passer
Dual threat
Option/ Wildcat

The point purely to put Berry at QB for a few snaps is because he one of the true breakaway threats in the SEC. Use your weapons. Hes a td waiting to happen.

Not to mention it takes a few hits off,Dobbs over the game and season.

 

[butchna]

Not sure why you would take one of the best running quarterbacks who can audible and read defenses out to bring in a guy that can't and is ONLY a running threat. How would that help us?

Ditto. Someone proposed this last year with Jennings as the wildcat. My take was why limit the offense? Response was that Jennings had an "extra gear".

 

[LittleVol]

Our secondary is super-talented. I could see the 2 deep breaking down like this:

CB - Sutton/Buchanan
CB - Martin/Moseley
NB - Gaulden/Foreman
FS - Abernathy/Griffin
SS - Kelly/Warrior

Really strong 2-deep IMO.

No man

Warrior is playing beside not behind Kelly.

CB Sutton/Moseley
CB Martin / Moseley
NB Gaulden/ Foreman
D Foreman/ Osborne
FS Warrior/ Abernathy
SS Kelly/ Abernathy