Tennessee Volunteers Football: Spring Practice Continues

Oct 20, 2012; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Marlin Lane (15) runs with the ball against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the second half at Neyland Stadium. Alabama won by a score of 44 to 13. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Spring break has come and gone, which means the Tennessee Volunteers football team is back in Knoxville and returning to work.

On Tuesday the Vols held their first practice since taking a little over a week off for spring break.

The Volunteers were understandably a little rusty after the time off, but head coach Butch Jones said he liked the team’s approach and he could see the leadership improving. Jones and the team held a team meeting on Sunday to make sure everyone was focused and back on time. Coach Jones said the team came back “energized” and ready to go.

There’s now just a little over two weeks left before the Orange & White game that will conclude spring practice and Butch Jones and his staff have seen several players step up as leaders. Jawuan James and Jacques Smith are two notable players have stepped up. Jones said that Smith “brings it everyday”. Jones also said that he’s still looking for more players to step up as leaders. The Vol’s new head coach also said of leadership:

"We always talk about it, it is better to be a player-led team than a coach-led team, or a player-coached team then a coach-coached team"

Notes and Quotes

• Butch Jones said he had really been impressed by the play of wide receiver Jason Croom
• Running back Marlin Lane was not at practice as he was home attending to personal matters
• Jones said one of his main focuses is becoming a more physical football team

"Butch Jones:  It is only the second time that we have been out there on our grass practice field so the environment changed. I like changing venues. I like changing environments. It goes hand and hand with being a good road football team.Butch Jones: Today was all about Maxim No. 1, the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win. That is ingraining in our player’s minds and that is what it is all about. We will come back tomorrow and meet as a team and we will review maxim no. 1 and all the mistakes and what we need to do to get betterJawuan James: I didn’t know what to expect because this is the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve had spring practice with spring break in the middle. I feel like it went well and everybody stayed out of trouble and came back today with a great mindset.Nathan Peterman: We didn’t have a great day, we need to correct a lot of the mistakes we made today….the focus overall was pretty good thoughJustin Worley: Devrin (Young) is doing a great job transitioning from running back to slot receiver."