TAMPA, Fla. – If Tennessee’s up-and-down passing game built up any rust during the monthlong layoff between the regular-season finale and Friday’s Outback Bowl, Mike DeBord saw few signs of it Monday.
The offensive coordinator said the Volunteers “did a nice job throwing the ball” in the team’s second practice at the University of Tampa’s Pepin Stadium.
“I thought it was better today,” DeBord said. “I thought it was good today, and yesterday we were a little sluggish, but today we were good. We’ll just refine it and continue to get better at it.”
Tennessee certainly will welcome having more options at receiver this week, both in practice and Friday against Northwestern.
The Vols’ receiving corps resembled a M*A*S*H unit again this season, with multiple wideouts missing multiple games and others playing at less than 100 percent. In some late-season games Tennessee had just four or five available scholarship receivers, and the coaches moved running back Ralph David Abernathy IV to receiver in November.
“It limits some things, because those guys wear out, too,” DeBord said. “When we ask so much of them out on the perimeter with blocking like we do, they wear down a little bit. We’ve been limited a little bit, but that’s part of it. We really just tried to do what we could do, and our guys have done a good job of that.”
Josh Malone, Von Pearson and Josh Smith emerged as the most reliable and healthiest options, as they combined for 88 catches, 1,072 yards and seven touchdowns.
Jauan Jennings, Preston Williams and Marquez North – a trio who combined to miss 13 games – have been available and looked healthy during practices this month.
“It’s different in practice when you can just keep going all the time,” DeBord said. “You don’t have to slow down and walk through some things. It’s been good that way. It’s been good to have guys healthy, and we can keep going.”
Handling the heat
Tennessee’s first outdoor practices since Thanksgiving Day this week have come under sun-drenched skies amid temperatures pushing 85 degrees.
The heat requires a bigger adjustment from Northwestern – it’s supposed to snow in Chicago this week – than from Tennessee, but the Vols realize the heat will be a factor Friday.
“We’ve done a great job hydrating them,” DeBord said. “This is part of our program, is handling this. I think our kids have done a great job, and our strength and conditioning and training staffs have done a great job with pushing liquids and all the recovery things that we do.”
After a lighter workout Sunday, Tennessee practiced more vigorously Monday, with the defense focusing on tackling for three full periods.
“My approach is hey, we need to push ourselves in practice, especially early when you get down here,” defensive coordinator John Jancek said. “Then obviously you’ve got to taper off and let them get their legs back and all that. My emphasis is we can’t control the weather, we can’t control the humidity.
“It’s the same for both teams, so let’s do what we need to do to prepare, then go out and play.”
Tennessee, which led the SEC in plays (905) and plays per game (75.4) this season, will want its tempo on offense to work in its favor in the increased heat and humidity.
“I think it’s an advantage every game for us,” left tackle Kyler Kerbyson said. “I don’t think the weather has anything to do with it. That’s how we look at it, as we need to go fast so we can wear down the defense.
“That’s our game plan, is to wear them down as the game goes along. That way the fourth quarter is easy for us and hard for them. That’s why we want to push the pedal.
“That’s why we want our tempo to be even faster than it was the game before.”
Time to refine
Tennessee had its game plan on offense installed before the team arrived in Florida on Saturday, so the bowl week is more for fine-tuning than anything due to the busy schedule of team events and activities.
“It’s basically getting the game plan ready early, and once we get here just refining it,” DeBord said. “Occasionally we’ll say, ‘Hey, this might be a little better out of this or this formation,’ or we might not want this. Maybe we’ve got too much of this, so you delete a little bit, but it’s all done.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.