Vols Football: 5 Things to Watch in Spring Practices

Ahh, the smell of green grass and leather. Must be spring. PHOTO: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

The 2014 calendar now reads “March,” and we all know what that means, right?

That’s right, it means it’s college football spring practice time around the nation. Oh, you were looking for something involving a court and madness? Well, I hope you don’t mind settling for turf and pads instead.

The 2014 NCAA football season is still nearly half a year away, but spring practices start as early as this Friday, March 7th for the Tennessee Vols. Butch Jones begins his 2nd season as Tennessee’s head coach and has had quite the off-season coming off another lackluster 5-7 season. Despite the disappointing maiden voyage for Jones and Company, he and his staff managed to wrap up a massive recruiting class that totaled 33 signees and ranked 7th in the nation according to 247 Sports.

Of those 33 signees, 14 players signed as early enrollees and are already on campus taking college classes and lifting weights with the upperclassmen and will be able practice with the team during spring drills and get a leg up on the competition entering the summer and fall.

There will be many intriguing things to keep an eye on during these spring practices, from position battles and improvement to conditioning and seeing the debut of some highly touted recruits. Here are the 5 things you should watch for during the Vols’ spring practices for the upcoming 2014 season.