The University of Tennessee's head coach Butch Jones calls drills during the Dish Orange & White Game in Knoxville on April 25, 2015.KNOXVILLE -- With the summer semester starting earlier this week at the University of Tennessee, the Volunteers welcomed nearly all of their 2015 football signees to campus for the start of the offseason workout program.
Tennessee's wait continues for a few of the incoming freshmen, though.
While five-star defensive tackle signee Kahlil McKenzie will join the Vols this weekend after graduating from high school in California, running back John Kelly and defensive tackle Quay Picou aren't expected until the second session of summer classes begins in July.
Offensive lineman Zach Stewart, whose mother passed away last week, also hasn't joined the team yet. On Sunday, Stewart posted the following update on his Twitter account: "I've not yet moved to campus. I'll do so when I discuss the situation with my dad and brother."
Kahlil McKenzieWhile roughly 25 players remained in Knoxville the last few weeks, many of them returned to their hometowns, and the Vols will have a team meeting to kick off the summer workout program on Sunday night.
"A lot of times you do need to go home and get away and obviously spend time with your family, and the individuals that elected to stay (on campus), it's been healthy for them, too," head coach Butch Jones said at the Big Orange Caravan stop in Bristol last month.
"But now they're ready to come back, and as a coach that's what you like to see, is players reaching out to you, calling you and text messaging you, 'Coach, it's been great, but I'm ready to get back to work.'"
The new crop of players includes three freshmen -- athletes Jocquez Bruce and Vincent Perry and running back Joseph Youn -- who are blueshirting. A blueshirt means a prospect arrives on campus as a recruited walk-on and is placed on scholarship later. Those prospects cannot take an official visit to the school or host coaches during the recruiting process, and they count toward the following year's class.
Bruce, from Knoxville's South-Doyle High School, and Perry, out of Nashville's Hillsboro, both publicly committed to the Vols. Perry is expected to begin his career as a slot receiver. Bruce likely will start out as a running back.
Young originally committed to Charlotte in December, but the 6-foot, 192-pound running back from Fairfield Central High School in Winnsboro, S.C., received a scholarship offer from the Vols in early February and took an unofficial visit to Knoxville later that month.
Already thin in the backfield, Tennessee needed another addition after former commitments Rocky Reid (Wake Forest) and Kendall Bussey (Texas A&M) signed elsewhere.
Renfro joins Vols
Tennessee went the transfer route to find its potential starting punter for next season.
Former Maryland specialist Nathan Renfro, who signed with the Terrapins out of Brentwood Academy in 2011, joined the Vols this offseason as a graduate transfer and thus will be eligible this season.
Renfro was Maryland's punter each of the last three seasons and averaged 41.5 yards on 84 punts, with 12 traveling 50-plus yards in 2014.
The Vols need to find a replacement for Matt Darr, who averaged better than 42 yards per punt last season and landed an undrafted free agent deal with the Miami Dolphins. Renfro should provide competition for the spot with freshman Tommy Townsend and walk-on Trevor Daniel.
Tennessee's other incoming graduate transfer, former Cincinnati running back and returner Ralph David Abernathy, also is enrolled at Tennessee.
Butcher undergoes surgery
Freshman defensive end Andrew Butcher underwent knee surgery Wednesday. Whether he'll be ready for the start of training camp in August is unclear. The 6-foot-2, 250-pounder enrolled at Tennessee in January and turned in a solid performance during spring practice.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.