Vols Practice thread #1

#1
Fingers

Fingers

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#1
First practice starts at 2:50 pm today. I'll update this thread.



Black outlines are back.

VIDEO CLIPS (sorry about ads from that site. Didn't notice it on mobile before)












NOTES

Trey Smith was working at left guard during individual work. Brandon Kennedy isn't a towering player but he is Kahlil McKenzie like in the lower big, he's really thick in the upper lower body. Chance Hall was going through drills normally and working at right tackle.

On the defensive line, Emmit Gooden was working at the nose, while Kingston Harris, John Mincey and Kurott Garland were all working at the five-tech/defensive end spots. Alexis Johnson also was at the five-tech spot with Shy Tuttle still at nose.

Keller Chryst is listed at 6-5/239 and that's not off. He's a big cat. Carries himself like he's been here for longer than a couple of months.

Freshman Brandon Davis was working with the safeties. He tweeted not that long ago that he was a safety and not a cornerback and while calling him a corner we've mentioned he might get a look at safety.

Dillon Bates worked at outside linebacker for the first practice of the spring and moved to inside linebacker, if I recall correctly. He was with the outside linebackers today.
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-Patrick Brown


But the coaches were (imagine this) actually coaching and making sure UT’s players understood that they weren’t going to be babied around this fall. Competition was amped up, and the intensity was great to see.

Staying on offense, we got our first look at Dominick Wood-Anderson, and he’s as huge as I expected. And he still hasn’t put pads on yet. We didn’t get to see him really run with the pass catchers much during the open portion of practice, but he absolutely looks the part of a do-it-all tight end.

I can tell Jarrett Guarantano has been working on his timing and his touch on deep passes. He lofted a beautiful rainbow of a pass down the sidelines about 30 yards or so, and it hit the intended target in stride. He also looks to be in better rhythm than he was during the season last year, but like I said, this was without any pass rushers coming at him or defensive backs guarding the receivers

For Keller Chryst, I saw a quarterback who looks poised in the pocket and definitely seems like he has more experience than anyone else on UT’s roster. I’ve never been impressed with his throwing motion, and it didn’t seem like had as much zip on the ball as Guarantano did today. But his throwing motion was good enough for him to throw 19 touchdowns compared to just six interceptions at Stanford and helped him go 11-2 as a starter, so he makes it work for him.

Daniel Bituli is an absolute beast on the field. If he stays healthy, he has a chance to be an All-SEC performer this year.

Jonathan Kongbo looks like he’s in the best shape of his life. But looks have never been the issue for Kongbo, and he still needs to work on opening up his hips more and getting more explosive.

Jordan Allen looks bigger than he did in the spring, as does Darrell Taylor. I look forward to getting to see those two more this fall and seeing what they can do as pass rushers.
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-Nathanial Rutherford

The veteran coach was particularly rough on freshman Ollie Lane and sophomore Riley Locklear on Friday, but he also didn’t mince words with vets like Drew Richmond or Marcus Tatum.

With the caveat that it’s Day 1 … again Day 1 … I was impressed with how Chance Hall looked. Surprised, really. He moved pretty well. Didn’t show any noticeable limp and looked in solid shape.

On the flip side, Alabama transfer Brandon Kennedy looked a lot small than his listing of 6-3, 301. That seems like a stretch. Kennedy was notably taking a lot of reps, though, mostly at center. He's got quick feet and some power, too.

Before getting winded, Drew Richmond was working exclusively at LT. Trey Smith didn’t do a whole lot of drill work while we were out there. Ryan Johnson was at LG, with Jerome Carvin at RG and Marcus Tatum at RT.

Devante Brooks was at center, while Locklear worked at RG.

A couple notes on both groups: Daniel Bituli looked a bit lighter. In a good way. He’s listed at a similar weight as last season but he’s shifted it around it appears.

In the “looks the part” department: Newcomers Kenneth George, Kingston Harris and Emmitt Gooden.

Quick takeaways from what I could see: Jarrett Guarantano took the first rep and threw a perfect ball to Josh Palmer … and it was dropped. The rest of the period was much cleaner, though. I didn’t think Keller Chryst had a ton of zip on his balls, but again, it’s hard to really gauge based on the viewpoints for the media.

JT Shrout has a nice arm, but he’s clearly someone who needs to get stronger.

Sophomore Shawn Shamburger was working with the safeties today, while freshman Bryce Thompson and Alontae Taylor were at corner. Both rookies flashed their athleticism.

Todd Kelly was back on the field, wearing no brace, for the first time in about 11 months.
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-Jesse Simonton


Alabama graduate transfer Brandon Kennedy, who worked at center, isn't the tallest offensive lineman, but he has a thick upper lower body and looks like a powerful SEC interior lineman. He also showed some noticeable short-range explosion off the ball in limited viewing.

Ryan Johnson and K'Rojhn Calbert worked at left guard, while Riley Locklear and Devante Brooks worked at right guard and freshman Ollie Lane got his reps at center.

Freshmen Kingston Harris and Kurott Garland worked at the spot featuring the bigger defensive end, while freshman John Mincey and sophomore Kivon Bennett were at the other end spot. Walk-on Paul Bain and junior college transfer Emmit Gooden worked at the nose.

Among the newcomers there were no other surprises in the secondary. Trevon Flowers joined Davis in working with the safeties. Alontae Taylor, Bryce Thompson and Kenneth George Jr. worked at cornerback, as did Maleik Gray, who stays there after his spring switch.

Chryst and Jarrett Guarantano were each sharp on the short routes and had at least one overthrow on intermediate-to-deep routes. Freshman JT Shrout also had some sharp throws but was more up and down with his accuracy. The Vols overall probably had more balls hit the ground than they would have liked even for a first day.

The period ended with Guarantano, Will McBride and Shrout rolling out and throwing deep passes down the sideline to slot receivers Brandon Johnson, Latrell Williams and Jacquez Jones. The freshman had the best throw of the three. Johnson had to stop to catch Guarantano's pass, Williams had no chance of catching McBride's overthrown ball and Jones only had to pull up a little bit to catch the pass from Shrout.
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- Patrick Brown

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#13
#13
Also, it's going to be awesome being able to "watch" threads like we can with the new website, especially when we have so many great ones like this going on!
 
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