Vols Football: 8/6 Fall Camp: Day 3

The Tennessee Volunteers put day 3 in the books Thursday night for fall camp.

With thunderstorms threatening, we thought practice may move in doors, but God was a Vol fan again as the rain held off for practice.

Vol fans are one practice and day closer to football again, and here is what went on in Thursday’s practice.

Notes:

• Von Pearson has still not had the suspension lifted and was not on the field tonight.
• Preston Williams is still preparing for the upcoming ACT, and was also kept off the practice field.
• The Vols were in shell pads tonight, allowing some contact.
• The media viewing practice session started with some one on one’s between the defensive backs and wide outs.
• The Kahlil McKenzie and Charles Mosley match up happened tonight, and I’ll get to that shortly.

Observations

I’ll not keep you waiting, although it was not the first thing the media saw tonight, the circle of life was finally brought out. However, the players and staff do a tremendous job of huddling up in the circle to actually keep us from viewing it in it’s entirety.

Circle of Life

From what we could see the 700 pound match-up was anti-climatic, sorry to break that news. There was no earthquake, and there was no need to re-sod the turf. However, McKenzie did dominate Austin Sanders.

The most notable (enjoyable) match-ups were Jauan Jennings versus Justin Martin and a battle of the Abernathy brothers.

Jennings has been getting a ton of praise for his athletic ability at the wide receiver position, and tonight his competitive edge came out. Jennings showed some fire tonight as he edged out the Nashville defensive back in a mid-state pairing.

To have a little fun, Coach Jones announced over the microphone that he wanted freshman DB Micah Abernathy, and his older brother Ralph David Abernathy IV, who is a red shirt senior transfer from Cincinnati. Speaking from experience as a little brother myself, little brothers always win, and that is what Micah did against Ralph pushing him out of the circle and onto his back.

One-on-One and Pass Protection

WR vs DB’s 

Practice started out with Josh Malone and Justin Martin on the four yard line. Malone beat Martin off the ball, but could not haul in the bad pass. Much like the Orange and White game drills, the DB’s won every contest.

Line Protection

Derek Barnett started it off by unsurprisingly blowing by Dontavius Blair.

All of the talk about Kahlil McKenzie makes us forget about Shy Tuttle sometimes, but tonight Tuttle made an impression as he demolished Marcus Jackson and put him on the ground.

Brett Kendrick had a good rep against Corey Vereen, and Mack Crowder held his own against defensive tackle Danny O’Brien.

Chance Hall had a victory in the circle of life, but Dimarya Mixon got him on the line.

Last but not least, offensive lineman Drew Richmond beat defensive end Darrell Taylor.

Overall, another solid night for the Vols. Tonight there was a big focus on “fundamentals and details.” The shell pads were a bit of tease for what Saturday will bring us as the Vols finally suit up in full pads.