KNOXVILLE -- If Tennessee's defensive coaches had any concerns about how Emmanuel Moseley would respond after missing a few weeks of spring practice due to mononucleosis, the rising sophomore cornerback dashed them Thursday.
In his second practice back from a two-week absence, Moseley came up with some interceptions.
"There's no rust," defensive coordinator John Jancek said. "He had three picks today in one-on-ones, then he had one in a half-line perimeter (drill). It's great to have him back out there."
The Vols were encouraged by how Malik Foreman performed as Moseley's fill-in opposite Cam Sutton while Moseley, a returning starter, and secondary coach Willie Martinez credited Foreman for his role in helping Moseley come back as strong as he has this week.
"That's the last great motivator when you're trying to motivate," he said. "When you have true competition, where a guy is gifted enough to beat out a starter, that has helped. And it's also helped our team, because we feel like we've developed some depth, and we feel more confident in Malik."
Tennessee was down to three healthy scholarship cornerbacks while Moseley was out, and while his return has been a boost, the Vols held Rashaan Gaulden, who's thrived at the nickel corner spot this spring, out of practice Thursday and could play it safe with a hand/wrist injury he's been dealing with for the final four practices of spring.
Moseley's return should further solidify what's become a strong, competitive secondary.
"It's been big, because he's a playmaker," Martinez said. "He's very similar to Cam, and he's gained some weight. He's obviously improved his strength and power, and it's showing when he's played press or trying to get off blocks. That's something that we went into this offseason that he needed to improve on.
"We want you to go out there and play with great effort. That's really what we're all about; then we want you to be able to execute and be good enough -- he is -- to force turnovers and make plays. At the corner position, you need that, and he did a nice job of that today."
Coleman's comeback
Coleman Thomas, as expected, was back at practice Thursday one day after he was reinstated to the team when a felony theft charge against him was dismissed.
Despite missing three weeks of practice while suspended, Thomas returned without skipping a beat.
"He was actually a lot better than I thought he would be," offensive line coach Don Mahoney said. "Playing center, for the most part his snap location was good. He's always been a guy that understands the offense. I was quite surprised, really. He was further ahead than I thought he would be."
Tennessee plans on working Thomas, a five-game starter at right tackle as a freshman last season, at center, where he played in high school, fairly heavily for the final practices of spring.
"We're going to keep him working at center," Mahoney said. "The importance that Coach (Butch) Jones stresses, with the spread offense of what we do, and the tempo of things and the location of the snaps being critical with the different things we do, that it's got to be on point, the timing and the calls.
"He can work all summer long on the snaps and even the sets at the tackle spots, but getting him as much as work at center as possible we feel is really important right now."
No worries
After taking the Southeastern Conference by storm with 20.5 tackles for loss and 10 sacks as a true freshman, Derek Barnett is one of a handful of Vols players limited this spring following offseason surgery.
Sure, the Vols would like to have the rising sophomore on the field, but is there any concern that missing spring this early in his career will stunt Barnett's development?
"No, I'm not really worried about him," defensive line coach Steve Stripling said. "He's like (Curt) Maggitt. Those two guys, they are so locked in, even when they're not participating. In the meetings, they're still coaching the younger guys. Curt was in my office today evaluating the Iowa game. I think they're really locked in, so I think they'll be fine."
Protecting Dobbs
Tennessee's 2015 season would suffer a significant blow if quarterback Josh Dobbs were to suffer an injury, and the Vols are trying to do their part in keeping that from him.
Running smart has been a point of emphasis for Dobbs this spring, as coaches use a simple mantra -- touchdown, first down, get down -- for the rising junior to use when he's running.
"We want him to be explosive, we want him to be aggressive," offensive coordinator Mike DeBord said. "But yet he's got to play smart. There's going to be times where he's going to have to get down and make decisions that way.
"That doesn't show his lack of toughness or anything. It's just we want him to play smart that way because we don't want him to take a lot of hits.
"We have a lot of cut-ups of our plays from last year, and there's times you'll say, 'Look, Josh, there's no need to take this one, we've got to get down here.' We point things out like that as we're watching film."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.