Vols’ Practice Notes from Second Bye Week Practice

Vols’ freshman running back Jalen Hurd prepares for a drill during Wednesday’s bye week practice. PHOTO: Nathanael Rutherford

The Tennessee Volunteers don’t have an opponent this Saturday, and the break from action couldn’t come at a better time for the banged-up Vols. Wide receiver Von Pearson and tight end Ethan Wolf missed Saturday’s game against Oklahoma, and wide receiver Josh Smith and tight end Daniel Helm both sustained ankle injuries during the game.

Regaining some health is crucial for the Vols during the bye week, but it’s not the only thing Butch Jones and the team is focusing on. The offensive line needs to develop more consistent protection, the tight ends need to work on improving their blocking, and special teams just generally needs to improve.

While Von Pearson and Josh Smith weren’t at practice, Ethan Wolf participated fully in drills while wearing a brace on his knee. Fellow freshman tight end Daniel Helm spent time in The Pit, along with Joe Stocstill.

Here are some notes from today’s practice:

• The majority of the practice open to the media focused on special teams, and most of that work was with punting and with players blocking punts as well. During the regular punting session, Matt Darr’s punts consistently had more hangtime, but he did have two of his punts blocked as well.
• During a one-rep punt return session, everything went smoothly until the returner called for a fair catch. Vic Wharton ran down on the coverage team and ran into the returner, drawing the ire of Butch Jones, who called out over the PA system, “That’s a penalty, Vic.”
• In an interesting move, A.J. Johnson saw some time with the running backs during some drills. It’s unclear if this means the “Beast Package” is set to return, but it’s the first time this season Johnson has done anything with the running backs.
• Butch Jones and his staff said after the Oklahoma game that they had decided on their starting five offensive linemen and will keep the same rotation going forward. That certainly seemed to be the case today, but some of the back-up roles may have changed. Most notably is Dontavius Blair, who saw time at right tackle during drills today.
• While a large part of the team worked on special teams, the quarterbacks worked with running backs and tight ends in goal line passing situations.

Observations:

As stated in the notes, Darr’s punts looked better and seemed to have more hangtime than he has shown in the last couple games. The only downside, however, is that he had two punts blocked and received a decent amount of pressure. It’s hard to tell if that is due to the return team’s tenacity or the coverage team’s inability to block. It’s likely a combination of the two.

Marlin Lane still appears to be getting the 1st-team reps at running back, while Jalen Hurd is solidly pegged in right behind him. The order following those two are Devrin Young, Derrell Scott, and Justus Pickett.

Running backs coach Robert Gillespie preached toughness today, likely in an attempt to get the most out of his backs for the upcoming stretch against SEC defenses. During footwork drills, running backs had to lower their pads and ram a large medicine ball after they finished their footwork exercise. Gillespie told his players they needed to “deliver the blow, not receive it.”