Notes from Vols’ Football Practice – 8/7

Marlin Lane leads the Vols running backs in a footwork drill at Thursday’s practice. PHOTO: Nathanael Rutherford

The Tennessee Vols took the field for the sixth time in a week and for the first time after a day of “rest” on Wednesday (the team worked out and watched film instead of having a team practice).

Among the spectators at practice today were scouts from a few NFL teams. Representatives for the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, and San Diego Chargers watched practice today along with the media.

One of the opening periods included some kickoff return work, and a number of Vols had an opportunity to field some kicks. Pig Howard, Devrin Young, Von Pearson, Josh Malone, Marlin Lane, Jalen Hurd, Vic Wharton, Jacob Carter, DeAndre Payne, Johnathon Johnson, Treyvon Paulk, and both Evan and Elliot Berry returned kickoffs today. Devrin bobbled one and Paulk fumbled one, but otherwise the unit was solid as a whole.

Pig Howard and Drae Bowles both wore green “non-contact” jerseys during practice, but Pig still participated fully in drills.

Butch Jones’s emphasis today was once again on “details,” and he repeated the mantra for nearly every drill, even going as far as to make any receiver who only put up one hand to catch a ball during a quarterback-receiver drill go do crunches in “The Pit.” Josh Malone was the only receiver to receive the punishment.

Here are some notes from today’s practice:

• Butch Jones gave his team a situational in the first team period, putting them in a game situation with 1:02 left on the clock in the 4th quarter with the offense trailing by 2 with one timeout remaining. Justin Worley led the 1st-team, Joshu Dobbs the 2nd, and Nathan Peterman the 3rd.
• Some notables on the 1st-team offense: Von Pearson, Pig Howard, and Marquez North were the main receivers, and Marlin Lane was the premier running back.
• The 1st-team defense remained consistent for the most part, but some notable changes did occur. Kenny Bynum saw time as linebacker on the 1st-team defense, and Devaun Swafford was the starting safety alongside Brian Randolph.
• On the 2nd-team offense, Devrin Young got the nod at running back, and Jason Croom was the top receiver on the 2nd-team.
• The 2nd-team defense was full of freshmen at all levels, including Derek Barnett and Dewayne Hendrix on the line, Dillon Bates at linebacker, and DeAndre Payne at safety. Malik Foreman and Lemond Johnson saw time at corner.
• When the 1st-team unit took the field again, Worley threw up a pass intended for Marquez North. The pass had plenty of air on it, and North jumped up to make the grab when Emmanuel Moseley, who was all over North, jumped up and snared the ball out of North’s hands.
• Aaron Medley connected on a field goal to end the team drill.
• The quarterbacks, receivers, and defense finished out the practice participating in their “skele”drills, the “skeleton drills” where quarterbacks have five receivers to throw to from the 25, 15, and 10 yard-lines. The receivers are guarded by defensive backs and linebackers.
• Worley opened up with a touchdown to Marquez North, but failed to score on his three subsequent throws.
• Both Peterman and Dobbs connected for a score on all three of their plays, and Dobbs threw an absolute bullet to Vic Wharton for his second score, giving Wharton 2 scores total during the drills.

Observations:

Once again, there was some inconsistency from the quarterbacks, but they cut down on some mistakes and overall looked better today. Worley didn’t have any underthrown balls, and the only crucial mistake made by any of the three QB’s was the interception Worley threw to Moseley in the situational drill.

Wide receiver easily appears to be the team’s strength this season, as nearly every receiver has looked impressive in drills and team situations. Most notably, Josh Smith and Vic Wharton have hauled in a ton of passes and both could surprise people by cracking the two-deep depth chart.

While defensive speed has definitely improved, the youth on defense is more apparent than anywhere else for the Vols. Once again, defensive coaches were screaming at players to line up correctly or substitute correctly for their sub packages. Only time will tell if the young defensive players can learn their positions well enough to unseat the incumbent upperclassmen who lack their talent.

There is a big drop-off from the 1st-team offensive line to the 2nd-team offensive line, as Joshua Dobbs was rushed more often than Worley in the team period. The last play Dobbs ran saw Malik Foreman blow by the line and jump right in front of Dobbs to bat down his pass.