Vols Fall Practice #9

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Fingers

Fingers

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While we were watching, Jeremias Heard was repping as the second team left tackle and Bennett Warren was repping as the second team right tackle.
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On to routes on air where it was a pretty rough sessions. Jake Merklinger had his worst session of preseason practice and was inaccurate throwing the football, completing just six-of-15 attempts that I saw. Joey Aguilar completed 16-of-18 passes and George MacIntyre completed 12-of-15 passes.
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Drops were an issue from the jump with Mike Matthews and Ethan Davis each dropping passes from Merklinger. DaSaahn Brame and Miles Kitselman also had drops on passes from Merklinger. Cole Harrison dropped a pass from Aguilar while Radarious Jackson dropped a pass from MacIntyre.
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We did get to see Tennessee’s quarterbacks toss some deep balls. Merklinger really struggled here, missing balls down the sideline and down the seem. Aguilar didn’t have a deep ball down the sideline hit the ground but two of his three throws were under thrown.
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Aguilar did have one deep ball on the money and threw good passes down the seem to Davis and Amari Jefferson. The only Aguilar deep ball to hit the ground was a pass down the seem to Harrison where the young tight end seemed to run the wrong route.
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MacIntyre was solid throwing the deep ball with one incompletion coming on an overthrow down the seem to Jack Van Dorselaer. The lanky freshman has the most aesthetically pleasing deep ball of any of the quarterbacks.
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Rickey Gibson was back out there and full-go after missing some time last week. Jermod McCoy was also going through individual drills like he did last Thursday. Boo Carter continues to be full-go as well. Colton Hood remained in a red non contact jersey.
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r.schumpert

Joey Aguilar was wearing the go-pro on the day and working as the second quarterback in the rotation. Jake Merklinger got he first reps while we were out here with George MacIntyre working third. During mesh, the positions groups also worked some Utah passes off play-action, something Tennessee has run before in the past.
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There’s three experienced guys who will play, one up-and-comer in freshman Daune Morris, who everyone is excited about and will contribute on special teams – and another freshman Justin Baker, who has had some nice moments in camp as well. Josh Heupel obviously likes this group and loves the development of Star Thomas, as noted on Saturday after the scrimmage.
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We wouldn’t call this morning’s routes on air session the cleanest we’ve seen. In fact, it was a bit sloppy. Of the three quarterbacks, Aguilar appeared to have the best day while the media was in attendance. He threw the deep ball over the middle of the field really well and was fairly accurate elsewhere. There was one deep ball that was not a good one on the near sideline, but overall, Aguilar went 3-for-6 in passes 20-yards down the field while we was out here.
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Merklinger started rough on deep balls down the field, but rebounded some before we left the field. His first four deep throws were all over the place: too far out in front, behind the receiver, etc). Merklinger hit one of the his two final throws that we saw to go 2-for-6 in the deep ball category. MacIntyre was 3-for-4 in the area, though some of his passes weren’t the best.
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I think all three of them were better over the middle of the field in this regard. They threw plenty more with short-to-intermediate routes while we were out here and there were some receiver drops during this time as well. Mike Matthews dropped a hitch and Travis Smith dropped a slant over the middle. Remember, drops happen, and it’s fair to say some throws were off line.
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The tight ends continue to be the best pass-catchers on this team during fall camp. It feels like there’s a sense of comfort with that group with all of the quarterbacks. Chris Brazzell did more today than he has all of camp. He was not full speed, but took part in some routes on air in a limited fashion.
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e.cain

In a bit of good injury news, veteran tight end Miles Kitselman was in a yellow jersey instead of a red one. The yellow jersey is rather new. We believe it means they are cautiously working back into contact. Kitselman continues to look good this fall coming off an upper-body injury in the spring.
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Freshman tight end Jack Van Dorselaer was also in a yellow jersey after being a limited participant during Friday's practice and not scrimmaging Saturday. Van Dorselaer and Kitselman both participated in individual drills and routes on air.
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It was not a particularly clean session for Tennessee's passing game that is still searching for a rhythm. Matthews dropped the first pass of the day from Jake Merklinger. Junior tight end Ethan Davis dropped the second. Kitselman, freshman receiver Radarious Jackson and redshirt freshman tight end Cole Harrison also dropped passes.
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Today was the first day I saw Harrison participate in routes on air this fall. He was banged up to begin camp.
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Elsewhere in the tight end room, freshman DaSaahn Brame made a couple of nice catches that drew praise from the tight end coaches.
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As for the quarterbacks ... it wasn't the best day for Jake Merklinger while the media was out there. Again, we only get to see five minutes or so of them throwing the football in the midst of a two-hour practice. With that being said, Merklinger wasn't very accurate with the football coming off a poor scrimmage. He often led receivers too much, missed them high or threw it behind them.
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Joey Aguilar continues to miss a throw or two while we are in attendance. I still think it was a solid session for him overall. He threw the ball accurately over the middle of the field and also threw one nice deep ball, though two of his deep passes were a bit behind the receiver and likely would not have been completed if there had been a defensive back.
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George MacIntyre continues to throw a really nice ball in routes on air. He also continues to receive quite a bit of praise from those within the program. MacIntyre was good during Monday's session once again.
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b.mckee

 
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#15
#15
Volfan76 said:
Can we get a VN representative to practice, just to verify which of these reporters are accurate? r.schumpert-Joey Aguilar completed 16-of-18 passes e.cain-Aguilar went 3-for-6 in passes 20-yards down the field. Also can someone find out if e.cain is related to Merklinger?
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One was talking total passes and Eric was just talking deep shots. I believe Eric even said Joey had the best day of the 3 in the time they were there
 
#17
#17
Nico ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va said:
I am getting sucked into the hype of the TE play this year. It is very likely we end up run heavy again this year, with some passes to the TE to pull the DBs up enough for a deep shot. The question is can we ever hit those kill shots when they come up, which is what Nico could not do for us last year.
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Davis is basically a big WR, maybe all the fretting over WR numbers isn't THAT big of a deal.
 
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#18
#18
Mountvol said:
One was talking total passes and Eric was just talking deep shots. I believe Eric even said Joey had the best day of the 3 in the time they were there
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Thank you for clearing that up captain O. 2 total incomplete passes cant turn into 3 no matter how you break it down. The point is that he is breaking it down to areas that Merklinger had the most statistical success...or in his case the least statistical failure.
 
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#20
#20
On to routes on air where it was a pretty rough sessions. Jake Merklinger had his worst session of preseason practice and was inaccurate throwing the football, completing just six-of-15 attempts that I saw. Joey Aguilar completed 16-of-18 passes and George MacIntyre completed 12-of-15 passes.
Drops were an issue from the jump with Mike Matthews and Ethan Davis each dropping passes from Merklinger. DaSaahn Brame and Miles Kitselman also had drops on passes from Merklinger. Cole Harrison dropped a pass from Aguilar while Radarious Jackson dropped a pass from MacIntyre.
 
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