Practice No. 4 Observations – Saturday concludes week one of camp
Tennessee football was back at it for the fourth day or practice on the fourth day in-a-row to begin fall camp. It was another shells practice with helmets and shoulder pads. Sunday will be an off day and then the team will be back out on the practice field in full pads for Monday’s session.
Media was out there for the normal viewing period of about 22 minutes. Here are some notes contributed by the entire Volquest staff who were in attendance. Disclaimer: The media does not see everything and the observations below are simply what we see over the course of the 22 minutes we are out there. All depth chart stuff is also subject to change as players move around and go with different groups throughout practice.
1-on-1’s with LBs going up against RBs/TEs
It’s not often we get to see any form of 1-on-1’s while we are out there. Fortunately, the entire final period media were on the field was 1-on-1’s with the linebackers going up against running backs and tight ends in pass pro. Those guys were working on protecting the quarterback while the linebackers were focused on getting after the signal-caller, off the edge.
First and foremost, there’s an art to the way Keenan Pili was going about his business. You can tell he’s done this for years at the collegiate level. Every rep he took, he was under control and had a plan of attack – whether that be planting the inside foot for an outside move, spin move, swim move or some other pass-rushing technique. Pili won nearly every rep he took in the drill, besting Jabari Small on a couple of occasions. Of note (and I’ll mention it again here in a minute), Small had a great day in the drill, too).
Aaron Beasley looked polished as well coming off the edge. He utilized his speed to bait the blocker one way before changing directions in a hurry and dipping under the attempted block. He won two of his three reps while Dylan Sampson stuffed him once.
Back to Small, it’s wild how far he has come in pass pro since his freshman season. He still has a ways to go, but you can tell that he and the others have put an emphasis on improving that aspect of the game. The senior running back was probably the most impressive of the day, losing twice to Pili but winning every other rep he took. He also won a matchup over Pili and Beasley on the day. Small showcased a low center of gravity, good feet and recoiled well after initially making contact.
Jacob Warren held up against Kalib Perry in impressive fashion. Jaylen Wright absolutely stuffed Arion Carter on one of his attempts. The freshman tried to overpower Wright with his strength and the running back didn’t budge. Was really impressive. Elijah Herring won a matchup over McCallan Castles but was later taking some critisism from Brian Jean-Mary for being out of control. He got a tad banged up on one play and had to go off to the side. But he was right back in there shortly thereafter.
Offense – Practice No. 4
The intensity continues to pick up with the shoulder pads on. Offensive line was doing a lot of group work and something we have picked up on while the media is out there, Addison Nichols has been with just the centers. Now, we believe he’s getting some work at left guard in some team portions, but while we are out there, he’s just been work with the centers (Cooper Mays, Parker Ball & Vysen Lang).
The routes on air portion of practice looked good with the first group. Joe Milton connected on most of his passes while we were out there – one over the middle on a deep post to Dont’e Thornton that looked good. Ramel Keyton made a nice catch on a dig route and Chaz Nimrod was receiving some praise from Kelsey Pope for his route running. The period outside of that was pretty inconsistent with the other groups. Nimrod, who did some nice things, also dropped a pair of passes. Nico Iamaleava missed high on some throws (which is normal for young quarterbacks early in camp).
Defense – Practice No. 4
Turnover and tackling circuits kicked things off in the indoor facility after stretches. Coaches were firing on all cylinders trying to keep the guys focused and energized as today was the final day of week one with an off day to look forward to. Seniors were taking ownership of that as well with all the groups. There was a lot of yelling and motivating on the defensive side of the football.
The defensive backs split into two groups – corners and safeties/stars. Both groups were doing ball drills, back pedaling and working on angle/open field tackling. Wesley Walker continues to look good early in camp and Christian Charles looks more at home working with the safeties. Kamal Hadden physically has always been one of the more impressive players in the room. He’s been at the front of lines and an encouraging voice this week, which is a step in the right direction.
The linebackers split into two groups and were hitting the one-man tackling sled while the others were doing tackling drills. Aaron Beasley and Keenan Pili continue to drill the best as they know how to do the little things correctly at the position. Some young guys like Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander look good but are still learning some of the basics of the position at this level. That’s wat camp is for.
The group doing the tackling drills, some pads were popping and they were working on proper head placement and shooting of the arms while running the feet.
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