Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley looks on while wide receivers run a drill during a warmup session prior to a team scrimmage Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
Photo by Adam Brimer/Knoxville News SentinelKNOXVILLE — Derek Dooley still wants to see the film, but Tennessee’s second-year football coach feels he’s a little closer to some answers to some key personnel questions.
Freshmen linebackers A.J. Johnson and Curt Maggitt continue to play well on the outside with senior Austin Johnson anchoring the defense at middle linebacker, and Alex Bullard needed just a couple of days and one scrimmage to make his mark at left guard.
“We spend those first seven, eight practices [getting] the people in the right spots so we can go,” Dooley said after the Vols’ second scrimmage of preseason camp on Saturday night.
“You have to play them to figure them out. Once you see that isn’t right, you can’t be afraid to move them around. What’s hard is you want to evaluate them before they really get comfortable at the position.”
Maggitt and A.J. Johnson have been the surprises of camp, demonstrating a nice blend of size, speed and physicality. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Maggitt had six tackles, four for loss and two sacks, including a key one late, in Saturday’s scrimmage, and Johnson added five tackles.