Vols Football: Notes from Final Practice before Christmas Break

Vols wide receiver Von Pearson catches a pass during practice on Sunday afternoon in Neyland Stadium. PHOTO: Nathanael Rutherford

For the last time before Christmas, the Tennessee Volunteers practiced some football in preparation for the Taxslayer Bowl in Jacksonville, FL on January 2. This time, however, the Vols practiced in Neyland Stadium rather than on Haslam Field.

Early enrollee quarterback Quinten Dormady observed practice today, but early signee running back Alvin Kamara was not in attendance.

There was a lot of quarterback-receiver work at today’s practice, as well as some special teams work.

Here are some notes from the final pre-Christmas practice for the Vols:

• All three scholarship running backs were in green, non-contact jerseys once again today. Jalen Hurd, Marlin Lane, and Devrin Young all sported the green jerseys during all drills today.
• Von Pearson and Pig Howard looked the best during the early wide receiver and quarterback drills today, hauling in passes in the north end zone. Josh Malone and Ryan Jenkins, however, were not the sharpest in the early sessions, missing most of the passes that came their way.
• Tight end Alex Ellis had a solid showing in the receiver-quarterback drills as well, showing good hands and awareness of his footing in the end zone.
• The Vols also practiced some more special teams, going through a pooch punt drill and some kickoffs.

Observations

It was early in practice and they were little more than warm-ups, but Josh Malone looked rough again during today’s portion of practice that was open to viewing. Malone dropped a few passes and drew the ire of coaches, notably receivers coach Zach Azzanni.

Evan Berry was once again not with the running backs, so it looks as though trying him out as a back was just a one-time thing and an experiment rather than a possible short-term solution to lack of depth at running back.