Tennessee's LaTroy Lewis (4) takes aim at North Texas quarterback DaMarcus Smith (10) in second half action at Neyland Stadium.KNOXVILLE - There are very few remnants in Tennessee's football program from the days of failed former coach Derek Dooley, except for the four players still left from his final recruiting class.
The Volunteers have just 11 seniors on the roster this season, and only four of them are fifth-year players from the 2012 signing class once highlighted by Cordarrelle Patterson and Daniel McCullers.
Each of the four - tight end Jason Croom, linebacker Kenny Bynum, defensive tackle Danny O'Brien and defensive end LaTroy Lewis - will contribute to Tennessee's success in 2016.
"I think our coaching staff has done a tremendous, incredible job - probably, in my eyes the best in the country - in recruiting," Lewis said after Tuesday afternoon's practice. "That's a goal for a big-time Division I SEC program to build and build and build and keep bringing in more talent and more speed. We're definitely heading in the right direction with that."
Lewis laughed when asked if he's told many stories of his first year with the program and said it's "not often" he has to tell stories about the tumultuous final chapter of Dooley's three-year tenure.
There's a sense of pride among those four players, though, for sticking through the coaching change after their freshman seasons - Bynum actually posted a picture of the quartet on his Instagram after the team's media day last week - and helping Tennessee's ascent under Butch Jones.
"The first thing I saw was stability," Lewis said. "I saw a coach and an entire coaching staff that came in and they wanted to win. They had a diagram for it. They just asked us to follow them, follow their lead, and here we are four years later."
Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop likes to have his fifth-year veterans speak to the team about the paths of their careers and share with them how far the Vols have come in the past four years.
"It is getting around the younger guys and letting them know where we came from and where this program came from," Lewis said. "Coach Shoop has talked about it a lot of times, that a lot of people come in and they got on third base without swinging. A lot of it is reminding the younger guys that we came a long way and we've got to keep this going."
McDaniel's debut
The Vols made two late additions to their 2016 recruiting class during the summer, and the second one made his debut Tuesday afternoon.
Defensive lineman Mykelle McDaniel went through his first practice and has been added to the roster, program spokesman Ryan Robinson told the Times Free Press.
The 6-foot-4, 240-pound McDaniel took an official visit to Knoxville a few weeks ago and signed with Tennessee shortly after returning. His recruitment seesawed as he struggled with weight and motivation, and academic concerns pushed it beyond signing day in February. Alabama, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Georgia had shown interest since March.
He's the only high school defensive linemen Tennessee will end up with in the 2016 class, and despite his upside McDaniel likely is headed toward a redshirt this season.
Bigger, badder Vickers
For all the preseason excitement about the slimmer Kahlil McKenzie, the veteran duo of O'Brien and Kendal Vickers would be Tennessee's starting defensive tackle duo as of now.
Vickers, a fourth-year junior, showed up on campus in 2013 as a 240-pound defensive end, redshirted and bulked into a 300-pound tackle and one of the strongest players on the team. He was a reliable interior defender in 2015, quietly starting all 13 games.
"When they moved me to D-tackle, I was like, 'I've got to hone in that mindset now,'" Vickers said. "It's a whole different level (going) from getting a double team from a tackle and a tight end to a guard and a tackle or a guard and a center. It's a mindset. You come out with a mindset that you're going to be the baddest dude on the field.
"If you put in the work, then the results will show."
Trio lose helmet stripe
Three more newcomers earned the removal of their black helmet stripes following Tuesday's practice.
Wide receivers Tyler Byrd and Jeff George, a junior college transfer who joined the Vols in January, lost their stripes along with freshman offensive lineman Marcus Tatum.
Both Byrd and George should be in the rotation at their position, and Tatum quietly has impressed the coaching staff this month with his play at tackle.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.