10 things I think I think — Two weeks to go
It’s 15 days until kickoff in Nashville for Josh Heupel’s Tennessee Vols who have finished their scrimmage work and are moving into a mock game week before Virginia game week arrives. With the final true fall camp in the books (classes do start next week), we close out the week by emptying the notebook with ten things I think I think.
Joe’s in control
Let’s be very clear here, Tennessee starter Joe Milton is not perfect. I don’t think a Heisman candidate in the pre-season or any of that, but what is clear is that this is Joe Milton’s team. And Milton is practicing at a level that we haven’t seen him practice at. He’s been more accurate with the ball. Better touch and better command. But just as important, Milton is leading both in his work and in his words.
“It’s been cool to see Joe’s (Milton) maturation,” receivers coach Kelsey Pope said. “When he got here and where he is now, it’s like two completely different people. He’s matured a ton. It’s fun to see him on the practice field. Outside of the physical gifts, you see him interacting with guys in between drives, coaching them up, talking about what they see. He’s not always talking, he’s listening too, which to me shows us a good leader. He’s willing to listen and apply on his end as well.”
I give Milton a ton of credit. When he lost his job after getting hurt, the Florida native could have pouted. He could have been a locker room issue. He could have left. He instead went to work, learned, poured into his game and into the program. It’s why there are a lot of people on campus and in college football pulling for Joe to have a big year.
Left guard battle/rotation coming?
We hear all the time about the need for continuity on the offensive line. And there’s truth to that. Tennessee benefitted greatly last year with four every week starters and co-starters at left tackle. But the reality is for the 2023 version of the Vols continuity, at least early in the year, is just not realistic. Cooper Mays is still recovering. Heupel indicates he will be back for the Virginia game, but for now he’s not practicing. And no one has run away with the left guard or right tackle job.
Now the right tackle spot is ok because all three tackles have played and are used to platooning. Left guard is a different story. Ollie Lane looked poised to be the starter there before Mays was sidelined. Lane is now working as the first team center and will start there if Mays can’t go against Virginia. With Lane working first team center, that means Jackson Lampley, Addison Nichols, and Andrej Karic are working at left guard and that position when the depth chart comes out will be littered with “or’s”.
The result is that early this season, you will see multiple guys play left guard – even if Mays is back at center until that position sorts itself out. Frankly, they might platoon there all year like they did at left tackle a season ago.
The security blanket
Tennessee has depth in the secondary at the cornerback position. They have four guys who have started games in the SEC and three freshmen who continue to show improvement every day. Gone are the days of Alontae Taylor and Bryce Thompson being given starting jobs on equipment hand out day.
Willie Martinez has depth and talent. Obviously, two guys with experience at corner aren’t going to start and one of those likely is BYU transfer Gabe Jeudy-Lally. Now, Martinez will in all likelihood rotate at corner and play more than his two starters every snap like he has been forced to do the last couple of seasons.
But, what a luxury it is to have a guy like Jeudy-Lally on the team. He won’t get the hype of transfers like Dont’e Thornton, Keenan Pili, and John Campbell who are plug and play guys in the line up – but Jeudy-Lally is important to this team. As a veteran, he’s coaching the freshmen between reps and drills. Also as a veteran, you can put him in the game in any situation if you need or want to.
The former Vanderbilt starter is a pretty nice security blanket for Tim Banks and Martinez.
Carpe Diem
One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is seeing players grow and develop. It’s why I’m a big fan of guys like Ramel Keyton. Keyton was a four star (most forget that) who didn’t play early and was cast off by most. And there are tons of other examples in my 30 years of covering Tennessee athletics.
So it’s cool to see it start to click for guys and it’s cool to see guys make the most of their opportunities when they get them. This fall camp, there are three guys in particular who have really had their carpe diem moment and that’s Chas Nimrod, Kaleb Webb and Andre Turrentine. None of the three will start. None of the three will for sure make a meaningful play for this team this fall, but all three have improved a lot this fall because of the opportunities they are getting. Opportunities to go against starters and play with starters in truly meaningful snaps.
We all know the reality is that every rep is important and counts. We also know that those guys are human and it’s hard to always stay focused when you aren’t getting the reps with the one’s and two’s like they are getting.
Due to injuries, maintenance days, and precaution days with veterans, a lot of younger players are getting significant opportunities and no one has taken better advantage of those rep then those three.
“I don’t know if anybody spends more time in the building catching balls off the jugs. He’s always coming back for extra work in the middle of the day to understand, what he’s doing, what he’s seen to continue to grow within our offense, understand defensive structure. He’s gotten a lot stronger. His lower body in particular that’s helped him with his speed getting in and out of breaks. He’s just continuing on his football journey with a real purpose every day. And small strides end up big gaines by the time you get to kickoff,” Heupel said of Webb. “I’m really pleased with him. Chas Nimrod is guy that’s done the exact same thing. He’s continued to grow. He’s played multiple positions within our offense and really excited about Chas and Kaleb.”
You’ll get nothing
Josh Heupel is one of the nicest coaches I have covered. He’s gracious with his time. He’s polite. He returns calls, but there’s two things that are givens with him.
One, he’s not letting you see his football practice and if you are showing anyone via photo or video anything he thinks might give him some kind of advantage and two, he’s not offering up much at the podium.
Now, he doesn’t Belicheck anyone. He’s has a great gift for giving you an answer in a polite way, but for the most part understand you will get nothing and you will like it.
Wednesday even the head coach acknowledged it when asked about the center play.
“We’ve had multiple guys go at center. Like I said when I talked about Cooper (Mays) being out, all those guys handled it as far as the communication, once they got the play call, in a really positive way. I think our protection with the (first) group in particular has been pretty sound for the most part. And those guys gotta continue to grow. We’ll find out as we continue to finish up training camp where we’re at with who will run out there with the first group the first (game)…I didn’t say a lot there did I,” Heupel said smiling.
That boy’s good
Now in a rare moment, the head coach was transparent and even was gushing about the growth and development of running back Jaylen Wright.
Here’s Heupel from The Nation on Sunday.
“Jaylen has done an unbelievable job from the day that we got here to today of just growing into a man that knows how to handle his business on the field and off the field,” Heupel said. “He has become a pro. Coach (Jerry) Mack has done a great job of continuing to help him grow in every area of his life. Jaylen cares deeply about his performance, him being his best but he cares about the people around him. He has become really selfless in who he is and has been a pro in the way he approaches every day in the building. He had an unbelievable off-season. This summer some of the gains that he made are some of the best on our football team and was recognized that way. He’s playing extremely well right now. He’s explosive. He’s violent, but he’s learned how to be a running back. He’s not just someone who grabs the ball and tries to run around people. He understands our schemes, how things are being blocked and he’s poised to have a great year for us.”
And here’s Heupel from his press conference on Wednesday.
“On the football side of it, he’s a guy that early in his career just wanted to run around everything and just use his speed to his advantage. That’s how he had kind of developed as, as a young back in high school with some of what they did. He can still do all those things, but he’s got really good vision. He understands blockers, he understands how to use them. He delivers double teams to the second level. He finds space. His vision on the back door cuts has grown. He’s doing it at the right time. He’s playing at a really high level.”
Like I was saying earlier, it’s fun to see guys develop. Wright falls into that category. I remember Austin and I videoing Wright in the rain at a workout in Durham, NC. The skinny back was a speed guy who looked dynamic in space. With his work and the development under running backs coach Jerry Mack, Wright has truly become a college back. You got to remember, Wright lost a year due to COVID and was a non-factor as a high school freshman – so he’s really a young back in terms of experience. He’s found a different level this off-season and fall. Everyone who has seen Tennessee practice or scrimmage all say he’s clearly been the best back this preseason.
Time to get well
Tennessee is like a lot of teams around the country this time of the year. They are bruised, battered and beat up. As the calendar goes to two weeks until kickoff, it’s time to get well.
I’m not suggesting you don’t hit and don’t have contact. You absolutely have to do that especially to develop depth and your youth.
However, just like head coaches say to strength coaches in July, the number one priority is to give me back a healthy football team, the same can be said for late in pre-season camp. It’s time to shift towards game week mode and it’s time to get healthy.
Heupel, his staff and strength coach Kurt Schmidt have managed the last two seasons well in fall camp. Doing so with no depth or numbers in year one was pretty remarkable. Tennessee has more numbers and depth which can create the temptation to beat on each other some more, but the priority now is get to game week as healthy as possible. It’s why this coming week’s schedule is lighter and there are more off-days.
Health is the biggest priority with two weeks to go.
Can they get home?
It was the question of the spring and it’s still a question heading into the season opener. Heupel gave props to the offensive line’s pass protection in Wednesday’s scrimmage so what does that mean for the pass rush, especially the front four? The head coach says it’s improved but still needs to grow.
“I know that we’ve taken strides, that’s in the interior, that’s on the edges. We’ve added depth, which allow those guys to rotate more and stay fresh. I’m excited about what we’re doing on the front four at this point. And some of the things that we have to grow in, in particular, pass defense in general, but third down, defense, third-and-long defense in particular as well. A huge part of that’s the back end, your backers included, but it starts with getting a really good pass rush. I’m excited about the growth that I’ve seen so far.”
Around the SEC
One interesting note at Florida, while the chatter about the defense is about them being more aggressive, playing more press man and attacking more under new defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong. The concern on defense is at the safety position where no one has stood out and Armstrong admits he puts more on his safeties than any other spot on defense. Tennessee loves to attack safeties.
At UGA, plenty of chatter about the ‘Dawgs offensive weapons thanks to the arrival of three new receivers including two from the portal. The biggest addition is Missouri’s Dominic Lovett who has impressed since his arrive on campus in January and has generated plenty of buzz about how much he can help the ‘Dawgs in the slot.
Missouri is obviously using the new NIL law in their state to their advantage. You can bet more and more states will follow. Why? Because politicians want their football team to win too. It was kind of funny seeing the Missouri coaching staff’s reaction to Williams Nwarni’s decision to stay in state considering they had known of the decision for a couple of days.
At South Carolina it’s all love for new OC Dowell Loggins and Spencer Rattler. The Gamecocks open with North Carolina in a match up that has gotten more favorable. The Tar Heels are void of offensive weapons for Drake Maye, who’s probably wondered more than once why he stayed, and the UNC defense continues to have issues.
Finally at Alabama, all eyes remain on the quarterbacks. Surprisingly, Alabama has official released multiple days and multiple minutes of qb drills to the media. Maybe Nick Saban wants everyone to see what the qb’s are looking like to help speculation? Who knows? What we do know is that the head coach has publicly challenged the quarterbacks to “force us to play you” as camp starts to wind down.
Do you remember the time?
Last week, I threw some old Tennessee practice notes at you. This week let’s look at numbers, not games and the #15 has been a good one through the years with guys like the Bill Anderson and Mike Terry. It’s been especially good for Tennessee at receiver.
Carl Pickens was the dude with a ‘tude but man he could play. The North Carolina native could run, had great size, was fantastic as a centerfielder on defense in a pitch, but he grew Tennessee’s legacy of WRU.
There there was Kelly Washington arguably one of the greatest Tennessee walk on finds we have seen. No one was a fan of his ego in year two and the injury certainly cut things short for him, but in 2001 when he burst on the scene against LSU, he was some kind of special. His 3rd down sideline fade catch on a throw from Casey Clausen was still one of the best clutch plays of that year.
And then there’s Jauan Jennings, the only guy to be booted off the team by a lame duck interim head coach. Jennings made the most of his second chance. He was terrific against Florida in the win in 2016, and no one is every going to forget the hail mary win between the hedges, truly a jaw dropping play for yours truly.
Who’s your favorite #15?
The post 10 things I think I think — Two weeks to go appeared first on On3.
