Vols Practice Thread #7

[Fingers]

soon.

The offensive line had a slight change Friday, with Jerome Carvin in place of K’Rojhn Calbert as the first-team left guard. The rest of the group remained the same — Wanya Morris, Trey Smith, Brandon Kennedy and Marcus Tatum. Tatum is working to hold off 5-star freshman Darnell Wright at right tackle, while Calbert could be a swing-option depending on Smith’s status, as the 6-foot-6, 330-pound redshirt sophomore is also seeing work at left guard. Jahmir Johnson, who was visibly upset about something toward the end of practice, is battling to earn a spot with the first group, too, competing with Morris at left tackle.

Ty Chandler might not have the wiggle of a guy like Eric Gray but he is clearly one of Tennessee's most explosive players on the roster — regardless of position. When he sticks his foot in the ground, he explodes north-and-south out of his cut.

As was the case Thursday, Shawn Shamburger was getting work at STAR for the second-straight day with the first-team defense. Notably, Trevon Flowers was limited Friday, which meant Theo Jackson was paired with Nigel Warrior at safety. All the units — DL, LBs and DBs — worked on various rabbits and dime packages toward the end of practice.

At linebacker, Daniel Bituli and Henry To’oto’o were paired together again — both in base and sub-package drills.

A day after both JT Shrout and Brian Maurer were very sharp in routes on air, it was not the freshmen’s best showing Friday. Lots of balls hit the turf during the red zone passing skeleton, with even Jarrett Guarantano throwing wild a couple times.

simonton

Will Ignont, who had made a strong start to the preseason, was in uniform but working with the strength and conditioning staff on the side and had his left ankle heavily taped. The severity of his apparent injury isn't known, but Ignont was walking around.

His absence in the meantime will mean more reps for freshman Henry To'o To'o, who has gotten first-team work in team settings this week, and redshirt freshman J.J. Peterson. Veteran Daniel Bituli, Shanon Reid and To'o To'o were the first three linebackers through reps as Kevin Sherrer had his players working on tearing off of blocks for a period.

There was a slight change with the first group at the interior positions, with Jerome Carvin working at right guard alongside center Brandon Kennedy and Trey Smith at left guard.

There were some one-handed snags on a couple of back-shoulder throws, with Marquez Callaway and freshman Ramel Keyton each impressively snagging a pass with one hand.

Veteran safety Nigel Warrior was not pleased with the urgency and tempo of one set of drills, barking at his teammates for looking bad by not being ready to go, and it was interesting to see Derrick Ansley step aside and let Warrior show his leadership.

Terrell Bailey was back with the cornerbacks after missing a day or two this week, but Trevon Flowers looked to be primarily a spectator in Friday's individual drills.

p.brown

Speaking of Peterson, the redshirt freshman has looked better in the open portion following a slow start to fall camp, though Kevin Sherrer wasn’t very pleased with one of his reps early on during today’s practice.

As for junior Will Ignont, he was back at practice after not being present for the open portion of Thursday’s practice. He did not go through drills, however, as he worked with the strength staff.

As for Smith, he continues to progress to more and more contact during the open portion of practice.

While Warrior was vocal with the safeties and Guarantano was vocal with the quarterbacks and wide receivers, Dominick Wood-Anderson was vocal with the tight ends as the group worked under a chute and with the two-man sled.

Brian Maurer and JT Shrout continue to take the majority of the reps during the open portion, though Guarantano takes the first rep with each route they work on. This is likely in an effort to determine a backup and bring the youngsters along as quickly as possible.

Guarantano was very impressive with his back-shoulder throws, while Maurer made some pretty throws while rolling out. Shrout made some nice throws as well. Overall, the quarterbacks had a nice day – at least during the portion of practice that we were allowed to see.

b.mckee

 

[j-vol17]

soon.

First

 

[Boogievol]

Fingers, One of these days I'm gonna buy you a beer or ten.

 

[McDad]

Bring it!

 

[LeBleu]

You know what ? I'm not going to say it.

 

[Volgrad98]

Doesn't even know what number practice it is....bench him.

 

[Rockvegas]

Love this thread

 

[butchna]

Fingers, One of these days I'm gonna buy you a beer or ten.

Figured him for a pinkie raising or mini umbrella spirit guy.

 

[VolFan4life24]

Fingers, One of these days I'm gonna buy you a beer or ten.

I think we all would like to buy a beer for him. A lot of work he puts in to bring us all this info into one thread. Actually would like to atleast have a Beer with a good portion of the members here.

 

[tn4elvis]

Fingers, One of these days I'm gonna buy you a beer or ten.

And a lap dance at The Mouses Ear.

 

[Catbone]

First

Congratulations!!!

 

[Catbone]

Hope flowers is ok

 

[jwilliams]

And a lap dance at The Mouses Ear.

One of my college roommates dated a girl that danced there... gah that place was such a dump!

 

[Johnnyreb#VFL]

Hope flowers is ok

In b4 injury prone

 

[VolInDayton]

From some of the comments about OLine and Henry T getting reps with Bituli, it sounds like the competitions are really heating up.

 

[butchna]

On the VQ podcast they speculated on Jahmir Johnson’s reaction if he doesn’t win a starting nod. They veered negative compared to Tatum’s if he heard similar news. Don’t know if it was all guessing or if they’ve heard something. Didn’t sound happy from that report.

 

[KeyVol14]

From some of the comments about OLine and Henry T getting reps with Bituli, it sounds like the competitions are really heating up.

Henry is gonna start mark it down

 

[KPT_VFL]

Elijah Simmons looks legit fast and athletic.. amazing for someone that big.. holy crap. I hope he’s a beast here.

 

[LittleVol]

Henry is gonna start mark it down

Yep.
I think W Ignot thought he would be the other starter, but then Pruitt told him straight, "Henry T needs to play, and you're not better than Daniel Bituli"

This development is great for JJ Peterson as well. Ever since Henry T has been getting 1st team reps JJ Peterson has been dialed in and practicing hard. Has anyone else noticed that?

Pruitt is trying to get this thing right SOON.

Morris is becoming an anchor for years to come.
Tatum isn't going to hold off Wright forever.

Still need Tatum and Jamir Johnson. They'll get snaps. Depth.

This whole team is improving everyday!

 

[KeyVol14]

Yep.
I think W Ignot thought he would be the other starter, but then Pruitt told him straight, "Henry T needs to play, and you're not better than Daniel Bituli"

This development is great for JJ Peterson as well. Ever since Henry T has been getting 1st team reps JJ Peterson has been dialed in and practicing hard. Has anyone else noticed that?

Pruitt is trying to get this thing right SOON.

Morris is becoming an anchor for years to come.
Tatum isn't going to hold off Wright forever.

Still need Tatum and Jamie Johnson. They'll get snaps. Depth.

This whole team is improving everyday!

None of that butch crap where he started Colton jumper over DKjr and pretty much costed us the Oklahoma game.

 

[Catbone]

Yep.
I think W Ignot thought he would be the other starter, but then Pruitt told him straight, "Henry T needs to play, and you're not better than Daniel Bituli"

This development is great for JJ Peterson as well. Ever since Henry T has been getting 1st team reps JJ Peterson has been dialed in and practicing hard. Has anyone else noticed that?

Pruitt is trying to get this thing right SOON.

Morris is becoming an anchor for years to come.
Tatum isn't going to hold off Wright forever.

Still need Tatum and Jamie Johnson. They'll get snaps. Depth.

This whole team is improving everyday!

They said Ignont has a heavily taped ankle

 

[Woodlawn VOL]

BOOM! GBO!

 

[JazzMaster001]

Elijah Simmons looks legit fast and athletic.. amazing for someone that big.. holy crap. I hope he’s a beast here.

I'm really excited to see what he's going to do in a game. Middleton as well. Both of them guys are huge.

 

[VolInDayton]

Yep.
I think W Ignot thought he would be the other starter, but then Pruitt told him straight, "Henry T needs to play, and you're not better than Daniel Bituli"

This development is great for JJ Peterson as well. Ever since Henry T has been getting 1st team reps JJ Peterson has been dialed in and practicing hard. Has anyone else noticed that?

Pruitt is trying to get this thing right SOON.

Morris is becoming an anchor for years to come.
Tatum isn't going to hold off Wright forever.

Still need Tatum and Jamir Johnson. They'll get snaps. Depth.

This whole team is improving everyday!

It seems like all the LB talk has been around the ILB. I assume that the only two spots that are more than likely locked down is Taylors and Bitulis. I wonder why there hasnt been much talk about that 4th OLB spot. Deandre Johnson is a tough kid and has shown some potential last year, but unless he is significantly better its hard to believe that he has that spot locked down.

 

[LittleVol]

They said Ignont has a heavily taped ankle

One way or another that move was going to happen. Ignot is still a valuable player.