TAKE FIVE
Five observations from Monday’s practice …(1) With more than a dozen players out with injuries and a few others with class conflicts, enough players were absent that cornerback Cameron Sutton played safety during some mixed work. Based on what Jalen Reeves-Maybin said after practice, it doesn’t sound like a permanent situation.(2) At this point new defensive coordinator Bob Shoop plans on being a CEO coordinator who oversees the entire defense, though he spent more time working with the secondary that any other group on Saturday.(3) Tight end Jakob Johnson, a converted linebacker, had a nice day catching the ball.(4) Junior college transfer receiver Jeff George struggled with some drops early in practice before bouncing back with some nice grabs in more competitive periods. He is all of 6-foot-6, but also skinny as a rail. Any weight he can add to that frame between now and the season should be beneficial.(5) New tight ends coach Larry Scott is a bundle of energy at practice. It seems like he’s constantly barking instruction or encouragement to his players. Shoop is a little more subdued, but he is big on the details and players doing drills correctly.
KNOXVILLE – In his first year as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator, Mike DeBord oversaw the drastic turnaround the Volunteers generated with their rushing attack.
DeBord may not need to orchestrate a similar improvement with Tennessee’s passing game this offseason – the Vols do return nearly all of the ingredients to the SEC’s No. 2 rushing offense from last season, after all – but there’s no question Tennessee must make strides with that phase of the offense.
After reviewing last season, DeBord and Tennessee’s staff concluded that a position-by-position emphasis was needed to help the Vols avoid becoming too one-dimensional on offense.
“We’ve broken down our entire offense, and we looked at different types of improvement that we need to make,” DeBord said Monday before the Vols opened spring practice. “We need to improve all facets of offense. We’ve got to improve our passing game at all positions.
“That starts with protection. We’ve got to do a better job of being firm inside and protecting the edges with the tackles. We’ve got to be more accurate with our throw game. The receivers, they’ve got to work on releases. They’ve really been working hard in skill development on the breaking point. That’s another aspect we’ve got to get better at. The running backs, they want to get better as pass pro.
“All parts of our offense have to get better, but we’ve broken it down by position, we’ve broken it down by the entire unit and those are the things we’re going to really strive at getting better at this spring.”
Shoop’s goal
With Tennessee down six defensive linemen and a potential starting safety for spring practice, new coordinator Bob Shoop can’t operate with a full deck. But the absences of Derek Barnett, Shy Tuttle, Kyle Phillips, Evan Berry and others won’t change the goal Shoop is aiming to accomplish in the next five weeks.
“What I want to get done,” Shoop said, “is I want to evaluate our personnel, find out the what skill set is of each player, find out who are our contributors are going to be. Who’s our best 11? Who’s our next best 11? Identify their strengths and put those players where they can be successful and help Team 120.”
Strength switch
A program’s strength coach becomes a fairly important figure during the offseason, and that person at Tennessee was different this winter.
For the past three years Dave Lawson has been Tennessee’s strength coach, but Mike Szerszen, Lawson’s right-hand man, took over more of the daily operations of the football players’ workout program.
“Dave Lawson’s in charge of our entire strength and conditioning program as an athletic department,” Tennessee head coach Butch Jones said. “He still remains in that role. Mike Szerszen is doing more of the day-to-day (handling) of the football program, but Dave Lawson is still here and a member of our staff.”
No protest here
Three Tennessee football players – linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, running back Alvin Kamara and tight end Jakob Johnson – were among the group of roughly 150 students who wore black shirts to Saturday’s basketball game against Ole Miss to protest the state Senate’s decision last week to cut funding from the university’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion.
The group stood in the student section behind one basket, chanted throughout the game and left midway through the second half.
Asked Monday about the trio’s involvement, Jones said he had no problem with it.
“They’re just more than football players,” he said. “They’re students, and I respect that. Obviously we support them. They have a platform, they have a stage because they’re a student-athlete here at the University of Tennessee. As long as it’s done the right way and it represents them, it represents our program, it represents the university – I fully support them.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.