Christian Charles has been the unsung hero of Tennessee's second year of spring football practices under Josh Heupel.
He's not too shabby of a talent, either.
The 6-foot-1, 186-pound sophomore from Chestatee High School in Gainesville, Georgia, where he starred at quarterback, played safety last season for the Volunteers. Yet a lack of healthy cornerbacks this spring due to injuries to the likes of Warren Burrell, Kamal Hadden and De'Shawn Rucker resulted in Charles having to switch positions again.
"I feel like I've handled it pretty seamlessly," Charles said Wednesday in a news conference that followed Tennessee's 13th spring practice. "I'm just looking at it as an opportunity to better myself from the cornerback's aspect of the game. Playing safety before, I wasn't in a whole lot of press man situations, so getting these reps in the spring have been really useful and really valuable."
Charles learned of his change in location well before the start of spring drills, and he quickly earned rave reviews.
"That's a natural fit for him," fifth-year senior safety Trevon Flowers said at the start of the month. "He went to corner and acted like he had been there for 10 years. He's a fast learner and good with his feet and physical. He's everything you want in a corner."
Which now raises the obvious question: Where does Charles play in the fall?
His debut season with the Vols included a blocked punt in the second game against Pittsburgh and a starting spot in the fifth game at Missouri. He suffered a knee injury within the first several plays at Mizzou, however, which caused him to miss the next five contests.
"He's someone who played a lot more offense than defense in high school," Vols secondary coach Willie Martinez said Wednesday, "and he has grown so much in his knowledge of the game. Christian is high energy. He is a physical player, and he can run. He's smart, so he can literally play all of them on the back end.
"These are the guys we want to be able to continue to recruit."
Charles said the biggest difference between corner and safety is that you get winded quicker at corner, especially when receivers are rotating in and running deep routes. As of mid-April, he has no preference as to where he plays.
"I wouldn't say I have a favorite because both of them really have their caveats," he said. "Cornerback is more mano a mano, me versus you every single play, where at safety you're able to get around the ball a little bit more and make more tackles and things like that.
"I love playing both, so I wouldn't say I have a favorite."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.