KNOXVILLE -- Shy Tuttle made a big splash six months ago when he committed to play football at Tennessee.
It took the big defensive tackle three practices to make an on-field impression on Butch Jones.
The freshman four-star recruit drew compliments from the Volunteers' head coach after standing out during Saturday's practice, and that could be a positive early indicator for a team needing to solidify its depth at defensive tackle.
"The one individual who I thought really stepped up and really made his presence felt was Shy Tuttle," Jones said after the Vols' first spring practice in full pads. "I thought he had a very, very productive, a very good day. He had an unbelievable interception with a tipped football and finishes it off with making the catch as well."
The 6-foot-3, 315-pound Tuttle, who will wear No. 2 as many of Tennessee's defensive linemen continue to opt for single-digit jersey numbers, gave the Vols a tandem of top-tier defensive tackle recruits for their 2015 class when he joined five-star Kahlil McKenzie by pledging to Tennessee last September.
Tuttle then enrolled early and already is making enough of an impact that Ja'Wuan James, the former Tennessee offensive tackle who's been back on campus following his rookie season with the Miami Dolphins, posted on his Twitter account Saturday afternoon that Tuttle's name is one fans will "be hearing often."
The Vols already were excited by Tuttle's potential before he put the pads on for the first time Saturday.
"A lot of times, and it'll be the same with Kahlil, young men get away with things, because they're so big and strong in high school," veteran defensive line coach Steve Stripling said after Thursday's practice. "What was really refreshing about Shy is as soon as he got here, we were still recruiting, and the older guys we just calling me like, 'I love this kid.'
"He's got a great attitude, really wants to be good. That's really refreshing. I think he's got a great future ahead of him."
Tuttle apparently flashed that potential Saturday.
"He came off the football," Jones said. "You could see the disruptive quickness. You could see the explosiveness. You could see the use of his hands. The thing I really liked about it is you could see his competitive nature. You could see his competitive character and his confidence. He's very, very athletic.
"You could see instincts when the pads came on now. When you're in no pads, it's two or three steps up front. The magic happens on the second and third efforts. That's when you really find out, that's when you learn how to finish plays. You could see that instinctfulness coming out in him."
Tennessee is hoping some of the few healthy defensive linemen this spring will emerge.
The Vols essentially used a three-player rotation at defensive tackle last season. One of those players, Jordan Williams, was a senior. Of the two returners, Danny O'Brien is out for this spring and Owen Williams will be limited.
That means plenty of reps and plenty of detailed teaching for Tuttle and Kendal Vickers, Tennessee's only two healthy scholarship tackles.
"I've really never been through anything like this," said Stripling, who has more than 30 years of experience as a coach.
"You have to get real creative," he added, "and I think, to be honest, I'm going at a little slower pace. When you have more bodies, you're rapid-fire (like a) machine gun. The positive part of that is you can slow down and coach a little bit."
Vickers is actually a beefed-up defensive end. The redshirt sophomore weighed 230 pounds coming out of Havelock High School in North Carolina in 2013 and began last season at 255 pounds. Vickers now weighs 288.
He also boasts a team-leading 710-pound squat.
"My legs have always been strong like that," he said. "Even when I came into college, my legs weren't as big as everybody else's, but I always had that lower-body strength for some reason. I don't know where I got it from."
If Tuttle and Vickers can take advantage of their spring opportunities, it will only help the Vols once they have their full allotment of defensive linemen for the season.
"When everybody gets back, we're all going to work as one," Vickers said. "We've all got one goal. We all have one purpose, so when everybody gets back, we're just going to be going 100 miles per hour.
"We're going to need everybody to step up, including myself. Everybody's had their year to shine, and I think I need to be a guy to step up and try to help the team. I'll do whatever I can to help the team win."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.