Shy Tuttle (2), and Charles Mosley (78) participate in practice Tuesday at Haslam Field in Knoxville.KNOXVILLE -- One of the biggest names among Tennessee's 10 football early enrollees had a big finish to spring practice last month, at least in the eyes of Volunteers head coach Butch Jones.
Freshman defensive tackle Shy Tuttle was a highly-rated recruit Tennessee plucked out of North Carolina, and though he had some typical ups and downs during his first 15 practices, Jones and the Vols were pleased with what he was able to do.
Tennessee's third-year coach was asked about the spring progress of Tuttle and freshman defensive end Andrew Butcher during his appearance on Wednesday's SEC coaches teleconference.
"I think they really benefited from the repetitions, they benefited from early enrollment," Jones said. "And it's a transition, particularly up front, from style of play, to mentality, to conditioning, to the overall mental toughness and mental effort that it takes. I thought they both did a very good job. I thought they finished very, very strong.
"Shy Tuttle playing in the interior, he gained over 500 repetitions, and I thought by the end of spring he really started to get it. The great thing about Shy and about Andrew is they're extremely competitive, they're very intelligent and they need football. They love football. They're students of the game.
"I thought Andrew did some really good things in moving forward in the spring game, but obviously Andrew has to get much stronger, has to put some weight on to play in this conference, which he will. For Shy, it's continuing to redevelop his body and his strength levels."
With so many players out or limited by the end of spring practice, the Vols focused on individual improvement. One of the player who took the most advantage of that was defensive tackle Kendal Vickers. Jones again singled out the redshirt sophomore for praise on Wednesday.
Along with returning starter Danny O'Brien and returning contributor Owen Williams, the development of Vickers and the presence of talented freshmen Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie should bolster Tennessee's depth at defensive tackle.
Kahlil McKenzieJones was quick to pump the brakes, though, regarding McKenzie, the can't-miss five-star recruit who will arrive in Knoxville later this month.
"I think we have to be very, very careful that we don't set all these high standards and expectations," he said. "These are still 17-, 18-year-old young adults coming in here and playing college football for the first time and playing in the SEC as well and playing a position that's really a developmental position.
"These are going to still be true freshmen with Shy and with Kahlil coming in here, but we're very, very excited about (McKenzie) and we're looking forward to him getting here in June."
Tennessee's players, Jones said, have worked harder amid the offseason hype and heightened expectations heading into next season, which he believes haven't been a distraction for the Vols.
Jones was asked about the public perception that Tennessee is a program on the rise on the heels of a strong finish to 2014 and a second straight top-tier recruiting class.
"There is a lot of momentum," he said. "We have a great fan base. We had 63,000 people at our spring game, and we thought at 8 o'clock in the morning we were going to have to cancel it with the threat of severe weather and tornadoes around. Mother Nature obviously cooperated.
"We do have a lot of positive momentum, and I think our players have fed off that. They've been extremely focused. Their capacity for work, their mental effort, their mental intensity, I thought they brought it each and every day.
"That's what you want. You want the expectations, because this is a very proud football program. But we also understand we have a long, long ways to go in the development of our program."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.