Because of injuries, Tennessee junior Vincent Dallas has been moved from receiver to defensive back for the second time in his Volunteers career.KNOXVILLE – Riyahd Jones sat and watched Tennessee’s football practice Monday morning with a pair of crutches a few feet away.
About 50 yards away across the damp Haslam Field grass, Vincent Dallas had switched his white No. 6 for an orange one.
With one cornerback down, the Volunteers turned to the junior receiver to help at a position that already was perilously thin and reliant on two true freshmen.
Such a switch is not new for Dallas. He played defense during spring practice and nearly all of training camp last year before a couple of injuries and the dismissal of Da’Rick Rogers prompted a move back to receiver.
“I would think that would aid him in learning and trying to do the things that we want him to do,” defensive coordinator John Jancek said after the first of Tennessee’s two practices Monday. “I don’t know what his recall will be and what he learned when he played the position in the past, but we’re excited to have him. We’ll see what he can do, really, this afternoon.”