Vols Football: Butch Jones Praises Shy Tuttle

One UT early enrollee freshman is already stepping up in the eyes of head coach Butch Jones — defensive tackle Shy Tuttle.

Jones took time after Tennessee’s practice on Saturday to praise the young defensive lineman from Lexington, NC.

"Jones: The one individual who I thought really stepped up and really made his presence felt was Shy Tuttle. I thought he had a very, very productive and very, very good first day. He had an unbelievable interception with a tipped football and then finishes off with making the catch as well…….He came off the football. You could see the disruptive quickness, you could see the explosiveness, you could see the use of his hands. The thing I really liked about it, you could see his competitive nature, you could see his competitive character and his confidence. He is very, very athletic. You could see instincts. When the pads came on because when you are in no pads it is two or three steps upfront and the magic happens on the second and third efforts. That is when you really find out, that is when you learn how to finish plays and you could see that instinctfullness coming out in him."

The Vols undoubtedly have one of the SEC’s strongest defensive lines. They performed at an extremely high level last season and Tennessee added even more talent this past off-season, including Tuttle.

Tuttle has a huge opportunity in front of him in 2015. While the Vols have a lot of talent along their defensive line, they don’t have a huge amount of depth.

Defensive tackle is especially thin. Danny O’Brien and Owen Williams are the Vols’ top returning contributors from a season ago, but it could be Tuttle (along with Kahlil McKenzie, who will be in Knoxville later this summer) that makes the biggest impact of the group.

Big plays nothing new for Tuttle 

Shy Tuttle made a habit of making big plays as a senior at North Davidson high school last year, as displayed here and here.

I’m not saying that Tuttle will be Derek Barnett 2.0, but he’s certainly off to a very, very good start at Tennessee.