Notes & Observations From Practice No.9 of Fall Camp

Notes and observations from Tennessee's return to the practice field on Saturday morning.

Tennessee returned to the practice field on Saturday morning. The VR2 on SI staff has the notes and observations here.

Quarterbacks

It always starts here. First, Brian Maurer was not at practice for the third straight time, however, it does appear he is still a part of the team at this stage. That could change at any time, we will see. Elsewhere this group looked crisp today. Each guy drove the ball into the routes, and the number of drops decreased significantly. Joe Milton started routes on air by himself, followed by Hendon Hooker, then Harrison Bailey joining in. Still not sure there is much to read into there, as there was no order during mesh drills earlier. Bailey got the first reps with the 1's during Thursday's scrimmage, so it could still be that they are working in rotation as each guy was getting equal reps, and they were not throwing to any particular starters, as the wide receivers were scattered in various lines during this period.

Running Backs

Jerry Mack's room continues to impress each time out. This group is young and full of talent. Jabari Small continues to pace the way with Tiyon Evans not far behind. Tee Hodge looks healthy going into the season, and he appears to be carrying solid weight. Dee Beckwith reminded how agile he was today while this group worked on pad level and lateral quickness.

Wide Receivers

This group improved today as the number of balls that hit the ground decreased significantly. Jimmy Holiday was back working with them during the individual period. Their routes were more consistent during routes on air which appeared to help the quarterbacks build confidence early. Overall, this room continues to look deep and had a bounce-back day from a not-so-consistent scrimmage on Thursday.

Tight Ends

As we reported following the Thursday scrimmage, Julian Nixon saw an increase of reps during the day on Thursday with the tight end group limited in participants. This group appeared to be whole today, minus Jacob Warren, but we do not believe there is anything serious there. Miles Campbell was back and appeared to be over the stomach virus he was battling last week.

Offensive Line 

This group continues to work  the same rotation we’ve seen. JuCo newcomer Jeremiah Crawford continues to have some good reps. Wright, Carvin, Mays, Spraggins, Mays was the first rotation . This group will look to bounce back on Tuesday during the scrimmage after not controlling the line of scrimmage Thursday  

Defense

This group worked turnover circuits and their normal sets during the media viewing period. No real change in anything we have seen from them in practice during media availability until this point. We do continue to hear good things about Da'Jon Terry, Omari Thomas, Byron Young, Tyler Baron, Kamal Hadden and Warren Burrell. All are building consistent fall camps. For Burell, he is looking to push into the starting lineup once again. These are just a few players of note, but the buzz has been consistent around them.