Tennessee Vols – A Few Takeaways From Orange And White Game

Head Coach Butch Jones and the Tennessee Vols football team ended the spring practice session with a tremendous success yesterday. The Orange and White game has changed greatly over the years. Yesterday Jones showcased each position and player to the Vol fans in attendance, and also a TV audience.

Jones pitted player against player all day long. He had a quarterback competition that rewarded throwing accuracy. He had a one on one drill in the end zone between receivers and defensive backs. He pitted the bigs against each other in the circle of life drill and a competition between offensive lineman and defensive lineman.

All in all it was an extremely successful day. The weather was perfect despite the predictions and expectations of extremely bad weather. I guarantee you it cost the Vols at least 5,000 fans that would have traveled to see this exhibition.

So here are a few things that I see that fans can take away from the game on Saturday.

1. Vol Fans Are Ready – The fans turned out in droves. 63,016 fans were announced. That is off from last years attendance of 68,548, but the threat of severe weather kept many away that normally would have driven to Knoxville to see their Vols.  The attendance was second only to Alabama’s spring game which saw 65,000 show up. Fans are excited about a team coming off of a 7 win season. Many think the Vols can compete for the Eastern Division this season. Some things pointed to that possible outcome, and some pointed that they may be another year away from contending. No matter what, the Tennessee fans are as good as it gets, and support the Vols through thick and thin. No other fan base is more loyal. Vanderbilt had 5,000. That means more like 1,000 in Vandy world.

2. Dobbs Is Really Good, But Needs More Work…Josh Dobbs showed that he is really good. He may be the second best quarterback in the SEC behind Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott to begin the SEC season in the Fall. Dobbs has become a great leader and a great field general. Dobbs looked poised and in total command of the base offense. Remember, Jones was not going to show anything as far as new wrinkles in the offense, so everything was basic. Dobbs still has to work on his accuracy as a passer. He under-threw a touch pass to Sophomore Josh Malone  along the sidelines that should have been a touchdown. He has to make that throw during the season. I believe he will, as his mechanics look incredibly improved.

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3. Need To Get Receivers Healthy – The passing game was ho-hum with the exception of Josh Malone. Malone looked like the receiver he is supposed to be, but he lit it up last year in the Spring game as well. He is extremely gifted. With Pearson’s fate in jeopardy, it will be vital for Malone to become a dominant SEC receiver. Marquez North and Jason Croom did not participate. Tennessee needs these two badly to get healthy. Von Pearson was not there of course due to his troubles. The most improved and most reliable receiver of the Spring has become Jonathon Johnson. Johnson looked good and will get a lot of playing time. One of the surprises to me yesterday was to see how physical and big Josh Smith looked. His season ended with a high ankle injury last season, but he looks poised to have a big year. The fact is the passing game did not get better this spring due to too many injuries. They will surely do a lot of off-season throwing on their own I would suspect.

4. Second String Quarterbacks Are Serviceable – Quentin Dormady is ahead of Jauan Jennings, but both of these guys can play. Dormady looks like Tyler Bray. That is a good thing. Bray could sling it with the best of them, he just had a bad attitude and work ethic. This kid is the opposite. He throws the ball beautifully, but needs to be careful. He threw a few into the teeth of the defense yesterday when the play broke down. Panic is not good for a quarterback, and I saw a tad of that. You have to remember that he has his Senior Prom at High School in a week or so. He is going to be really good. Jennings is an athlete. He showed that on a long touchdown run yesterday. He is similar to Dobbs in that he has deceptive speed, and can run away from defensive backs. But his throwing is a project. Both of these guys had trouble hitting stationary targets in the qb contest yesterday. Assuredly they have never thrown a football in front of that many people before. It can be intimidating. However, if Dobbs goes down, they will have to add another 40,000 people to that mix. Tennessee fans have to keep this in mind when predicting how many wins they will get this season.

5, Jalen Hurd Is Still The Man – Alvin Kamara had his coming out party to show the Vol faithful why he is a better back that Jalen Hurd. That very well may be, but Hurd showed yesterday he is still getting better. Hurd looked faster, and bigger. He is still the best back on the Hill. I was extremely surprised and impressed at how much speed Hurd has for a big back. I agreed with others that he reminded me of Eddie George. He is faster and more elusive than George now however. This kid is a competitor and is not going to give up his starting running back status. With that said, Kamara looked good as well. He is shifty and strong between the tackles. He is going to be great in this offense. It has been a long time for Tennessee fans since they have had this much talent in the backfield. Both guys can catch the ball as well. Look for 1700 total rushing yards out of this tandem this season. (depends on how many yards Dobbs has as well, because he will have a bunch too!)

6. Shy Tuttle Is As Advertised – This guy is special. His pad leverage is good, his work ethic is good, his hand violence is good (meaning he uses his hands effectively and explosively to defeat his offensive line opponent, and he has good closing speed. He is going to be fun to watch. Tennessee has gone from an unknown quantity at Defensive line going into last season to possibly having as strong of a defensive front as Tennessee has had. Remember, Khalil McKenzie comes in the Fall, and no one will stop him. Kendall Vickers, Dimarya Mixon, Corey Vereen, Derek Barnett, Owen Williams and Charles Mosley will resemble an Alabama or Auburn defensive line this year. There is depth, and there is talent. Tennessee will not worry about their defensive line this season. Their opponent will.

7. Offensive Line Looks Much Better – What a difference a year makes. These guys look like they may gel. Jashon Robertson could become an all SEC player. I am going to say he will as a Junior. He is really good. Kyler Kerbyson, Marcus Jackson, Brett Kendrick, and Dylan Wiesman were all thrown to the Wolves of the SEC last season. They are better for it. The unit will still be the Vols achilles more than likely, but they are much, much improved. There was also a Dontavius Blair sighting yesterday. Blair looked in shape for the first time, and showed why he was the top offensive lineman in the Junior College ranks two years ago. But Tennessee fans may have a new favorite. Offensive lineman Jack Jones brings a bit of nastiness and attitude to this unit as a freshman. He is gritty and exciting. He will be fun to watch. But again Vol fans, you have to watch Jashon Robertson this season. He is really good, and like Derek Barnett on the other side of the ball, should be celebrated. I love seeing mid state Tennessee kids doing great things at the State University.

8. Defensive Backs – Oh my! These guys look great. In the one on one drills yesterday in the end zone not one Vol receiver caught a pass on this group of athletes. Malik Foreman has made the biggest stride in my opinion. Well, other than Spring Hill, Tennessee’s Rashaan Gaulden. Gaulden could not play due to a hand injury suffered in practice.  But Foreman looked really good. Cam Sutton is all world of course. He showed his skills yet again on a ridiculous triple reverse by the Vol offense when he tipped the ball away from Pig Howard, secured it, and took it to the checkerboards. Don’t try that against this guy. Evan Berry looked really good as well. Randolph is an All SEC contender at safety if he keeps his head, and Todd Kelly, Jr is just everywhere he is supposed to be. This group is back to Tennessee standards. And there is more help on the way in the Fall!

9. Linebackers – Not sure at all here. Yesterday if there was a weakness this is the area you would look at. But they had to play with one hand tied behind their back as well. And that hurts a linebacker more than any other position. Most of the time quarterbacks were not live so linebackers had to pull up from a sack or a big hit. That is hard to do for these guys believe me. Reeves-Maybin will pick up the slack that AJ Johnson left as the Vols leading tackler. He is great. It was great seeing Dillon Bates back. He still looks a little undersized, but was in position for most part. I think Kenny Bynum will win that middle linebacker position, but we will see. Bynum had a big game in the bowl game and showed he can play the position. Weatherd is going to be great. He showed great speed again yesterday. Colton Jumper looked promising as well. We all know what Maggit is capable of. So barring injury, this group will be ok. They do not have an Al Wilson. Reeves-Maybin is this teams Raynoch Thompson, but man do we need a middle linebacker to show up big.

10. Kicking Game – The placekicking looks ok. A point blank miss early on in the game by Aaron Medley was unacceptable, but he followed with a breathtaking 56 yarder that had plenty left on it. It would have been good from 60. I honestly did not pay attention to the punting which I totally intended to make a big part of my experience. It is a huge part of the game, and punting will be extremely important at Tennessee as always. Few teams preach the kicking game like Tennessee. It goes back to Neyland and to a great coach at Tennessee, George Cafego. So I apologize for not noticing that aspect as I should. It is vital.

So all in all it was a successful debut for this team. And with the talent coming in the Fall, it is only going to get better.