KNOXVILLE — Although attendance at Saturday's Orange & White Game was capped at 10,000 due to Neyland Stadium renovations, it was the largest gathering midyear enrollees Boo Carter and Marcus Goree Jr. from Bradley Central have experienced as players.
The two former Bears stayed busy in Tennessee's defensive backfield and earned praise after the 99-minute scrimmage from Volunteers fourth-year head coach Josh Heupel.
"I love both of those guys and their traits in the building," Heupel said. "They are high-level, competitive individuals who have grown within the structure of our program and are doing the right things outside of our building as well. They're intentional in the way that they sit in the meeting room and soak up knowledge and try to grow in their understanding of fundamentals, technique and scheme.
"They're physical guys, too. We do tackle sessions, and both of those guys will go up and stick their face in it, and they have speed."
Carter, who has been lauded this spring by Heupel and multiple assistant coaches, tallied three tackles, handled four punts and received a kickoff as well. One of Carter's tackles went for a 2-yard loss at the expense of sophomore running back Khalifa Keith on the game's second series, and he was getting first-team reps late in the first quarter.
He is challenging junior receiver Squirrel White for punt-return responsibilities, with White missing the Orange & White Game due to a family matter.
Goree collected two tackles in his first spring game with the Vols, one for each team.
"Marcus is a guy who, since he's gotten here, has put on 20-plus pounds," Heupel said. "That's in a short amount of time, and that speaks to how focused and intentional he is in what he's doing every day."
The Vols have a significantly younger secondary than a year ago after three defensive backs moved on to potential NFL opportunities and six more entered the NCAA transfer portal, but Heupel is very optimistic about his latest collection.
"I really do like the athletic traits that we have inside of that room," he said. "It's the most athletic that we've been at all five spots. They've made plays, and at the end of the day, we've got to find a core group and rotate guys in to go play at the level that we need to."
Helmet communication
Saturday marked the first Orange & White Game involving the new helmet communication allowed by the NCAA.
"It's still a work in progress as we continue into training camp," Heupel said. "Everybody inside of our league was limited to three of those devices that would work and operate on a day-to-day basis. We put two of them on the offensive side early in spring ball and transitioned it to the defense, so both sides got to tinker and play with how it's going to function and operate.
"Our communication system will continue to evolve as we have a better idea."
Portal time again
The spring window of the NCAA transfer portal begins Tuesday and will run to the end of the month.
"At the end of the day, you're trying to make your roster as good as it can be," Heupel said. "We'll go through that process and have exit meetings with our own players. I think the culture piece is extremely important, in particular at this time of year, because there isn't a lot of time before you get to training camp.
"They have to be mature guys who you're bringing into your program."
Hoop team praised
Tennessee's basketball team that won its first outright Southeastern Conference regular-season championship in 16 years participated with the football players in the "Vol Walk" to Neyland Stadium before the spring game.
"I enjoyed the opportunity to honor our basketball program and everything that those guys accomplished," Heupel said. "It's a great group of guys when you think of (Santiago) Vescovi and Josiah (-Jordan James) and what they've meant to this program and how selfless they were."
The four Vols who entered the transfer portal this past week — guards Freddie Dilione V and D.J. Jefferson, and forwards Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka — were not present for the walk.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.