Lane blocks A.J. Johnson in 1-on-1 drills.
Photo by Reed Carringer

KNOXVILLE—The Vols took the field for their last practice before spring break and continued to show improvement in several areas. While the defense won the last two practices, the offense made enough strides to win back the orange jerseys. Several units on both sides of the ball stood out in individual drills.

Offense: Justin Worley and Nathan Peterman split first team reps as usual. When asked about the quarterback race, Vol offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian offered his thoughts, “I like where they are. Today in particular I thought they made good decisions. We emphasize in our meeting room No.1 leadership ability and I saw Nate today really step up his command presence at the line of scrimmage, which I liked. We emphasize protecting the football. Through practice one through five we threw too many interceptions, but we’re getting better….I think we had a high completion percentage today…overall I like the progress they’re making.”  

In drills with UT’s linebackers Vol running backs and tight ends proved difficult to tackle. Rajion Neal and Marlin Lane regularly bested Tennessee’s linebacker in pass blocking and 1-on-1 situations. They’ll continue to split repetitions moving forward, but Lane looks like the most explosive and complete running back on the team. He continues to show an ability to cut upfield quickly, the physicality to handle the pass rush, and the hands to catch the ball out of the backfield consistently. If he stays healthy he’ll be a very dangerous weapon for the Vols this season.

Jones celebrates Lane successfully blocking A.J. Johnson in a drill.
Photo by Reed Carringer

Perhaps most encouraging from today’s practice was the play of Tennessee’s young receiving corps. Mike Bajakian called their progress “night and day” from practice one, and they made drastic strides in their playmaking ability. “They’re making plays,” Bajakian said. “That’s the one thing I walk off the field today thinking…we completed three or four deep balls. Guys going up and making a play with defenders draped all over them, and that’s a big difference.” He later identified Jason Croom and Cody Blanc as two receivers who stood out.

Devrin Young is putting in the work to see a ton of snaps at the slot position this fall. His routes are becoming more precise, and he has excellent hands for someone new to the position. Vol receiver coach Zach Azzanni offered his take on Young’s development, “He struggles here and there but here’s a kid who has never played the position and I’m on him hard. And he’s actually picked it up quite good. He works at it. The other night I came (to the practice facility) and I’m not kidding they were literally shutting the lights off and he was out here (on the field) by himself running every route. And guess what he did Tuesday? He had a good practice.”

It’s no secret the offensive line is the most experienced unit on the offense; however, this staff doesn’t want them to become complacent and challenges them to get better daily, “We gotta play better. We didn’t win enough in the past. We gotta play better with more depth…they gotta play better than they did a year ago. Last year wasn’t good enough. So that’s the challenge for me. That’s the challenge for them and I hit it home to them every chance possible,” offensive line coach Don Mahoney said after practice.

Johnson tracks a running back.
Photo by Reed Carringer

Defense: Tennessee’s linebackers really struggled today. They missed the vast majority of their tackles in drills and weren’t able to get around UT’s running backs in pass blocking situations. Vol linebackers also struggled to cover running backs out of the backfield, and Lane and Neal each caught several passes in game situations.

In team periods Tennessee’s secondary was scorched by Vol receivers for several long passing plays and Vol defensive coordinator John Jancek was clearly worried about the state of his defense after practice, “Obviously we have a lot of work to do with our tackling. That’s pretty obvious for anybody that was out here. We’re missing a lot of tackles…we’re not where we want to be. The last two days we did some things in a competitive situation that kind of exposed some weaknesses that we gotta work on.”

LaDarrell McNeil is one player who continues to stand out according to the coaching staff. Defensive backs Brian Randolph and Riyahd Jones were limited today with hamstring/thigh issues, but those shouldn’t be a factor moving forward.

One bright spot today was the play of the defensive line. Jancek continues to rotate four or five guys at defensive tackle, and the Vol pass rush is improving, “It’s getting better,” Jancek said. “It’s not where it needs to be but there’s some guys that show signs at times of coming off the edge and getting after the quarterback a little bit. Jacques Smith is getting better. Corey Miller took a step in the right direction today.”

Quotes: “The offense won today. We missed too many tackles. So that’s what’s gonna happen. We have to learn how to tackle.”–John Jancek

“We’re all going to play physical. There’s no finesse. We don’t put on fancy visors and gloves around here anymore. We’re going to go out and be a blue collar receiving corps. We’re going to block as well as we catch and we’re going to release as phsyical as we block. We’re going to go real hard and that’s what we’re going to be about.”–Zach Azzanni

“Justin Coleman is a guy who has shown good tackling fundamentals. Byron Moore did some good things today and so did LaDarrell McNeil. At the linebacker position A.J. (Johnson) did a couple good things. Brent Brewer showed he has the ability to make some tackles. We just have to be more consistent.”–John Jancek

“Ja’Wuan James has stepped up as that voice (of leadership). To this point he’s done a really good job of leading the group as well as taking it upon himself to lead the offense.”–Don Mahoney

“Fugate is doing a good job for us. He knows. He’s been around the program for four years. The thing about these linebackers: they’re all older kids, they’re older players, and they’ve been around two different systems. We know that these kids want to play. I got a guy like Sapp, like Crump, Fugate, Christian Harris, all of them want to play and all of them have been hungry.”–Tommy Thigpen

“Brewer and Sapp are taking that nickel position and running with it.”–Tommy Thigpen

Notes: Eric Gordon did not participate in practice but was in the facility taking in whatever information he could from the sidelines.