Photos: A look inside Tennessee's second scrimmage of fall camp
Tennessee on Wednesday held its second closed scrimmage of fall camp. Here’s a look inside the morning workout on Shields-Watkins Field at Neyland Stadium through photos courtesy of Tennessee athletics:
Josh Heupel on Tennessee’s second scrimmage: “Good day out there. Good energy on both sides of the line and scrimmage. Got some good special teams work. Did some normal drive work, got some coming out and then finished it with some overtime. Plays on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Offense got some things going early. I thought defense did a really good job in the middle part of the scrimmage, getting off the field. Third down defense was really strong for the most part. And in the overtime I thought the defense did a great job. They played really good football in the overtime period.
“So all in all good day’s work two weeks away from kickoff, two and change. And got a lot of things that we gotta continue to clean up on both sides of it. The communication side I thought could’ve been better offensively. Just some of the mechanical stuff, but all in all, good, good work. It also lets us know where we gotta improve before we get to Nashville.”
Josh Heupel on Tennessee’s offensive line play in the second scrimmage: “We’ve had multiple guys go at center. Like I said when I talked about Cooper (Mays) being out, all those guys handled it as far as the communication, once they got the play call, in a really positive way. I think our protection with the (first) group in particular has been pretty sound for the most part. And those guys gotta continue to grow. We’ll find out as we continue to finish up training camp where we’re at with who will run out there with the first group the first (game).”
Josh Heupel on Kaleb Webb and Chas Nimrod: “Yeah from the offseason to where we are today, he has been very intentional. I don’t know if anybody spends more time in the building catching balls off the jugs. He’s always coming back for extra work in the middle of the day to understand what he’s doing, what he’s seen, to continue to grow within our offense, understand defensive structure. He’s just gotten a lot stronger. His lower body in particular that’s helped him, speed getting in and out of breaks. He’s just continuing on his football journey with a real purpose every day. And small strides end up being big gains by the time you get to kickoff. Really pleased with him. Chaz Nimrod is guy that’s done the exact same thing. He’s continued to grow, he’s played multiple positions within our offense and (we’re) really excited about Chaz and Kaleb.”
Josh Heupel on some corrections Tennessee is continuing to make in camp: “Some of, some of it is. The first scrimmage in all reality was probably a little cleaner than, today’s was just operationally off the sideline play clock, you know, getting things settled as we get out there on the field. First play of drive. I’m not worried about where we’re at. We’re pretty intentional on working those things during practice. I thought today could have been cleaner but it wasn’t just one guy. It was all of us. Just need to be a little bit cleaner.”
Josh Heupel on Joe Milton III: “Really decisive. Been a really good decision maker. I don’t know if he’s (thrown) a pick all training camp. Been in control of protections for the most part. And we’ve continued to push their hand on that side of it. That’s Joe, but that’s the guys behind him right now too. And I think they’ve continued to grow in that way.”
Josh Heupel on Tennessee being deeper at linebacker: “We absolutely are deeper on the second level or second … the growth of the young guys inside of our program that can be at the linebacker spot – guys that were here, playing a lot of special teams last year like Elijah (Herring) and Kalib (Perry). Those two guys in particular. The young guys that we’ve added, the true freshmen at that position. Arion Carter has had a great, great training camp. I said it I think a week ago, he’s taken a major step just from where he finished spring ball.”
Josh Heupel on Jaylen Wright: “He’s been healthy throughout the course of training camp. His body is dramatically different. He was one of the guys that we recognized as we started training camp, just for what he had done in the off season. The changes that he had continued to make to his body, been very intentional in his work. He’s continued to grow and just being able to have a championship mindset, be able to reset from play to play, play with passion, not playing just straight out of emotion. Been great with the young backs. He’s been a great leader, great teacher for those guys.
“He’s into it when he’s not even the guy that’s getting the reps. On the football side of it, he’s a guy that early in his career just wanted to run around everything and just use his speed to his advantage. That’s how he had kind of developed as, as a young back in high school with some of what they did. He can still do all those things, but he’s got really good vision. He understands blockers, he understands how to use them. He delivers double teams to the second level. He finds space. His vision on the back door cuts has grown. He’s doing it at the right time. He’s playing at a really high level.”
Josh Heupel on Tennessee’s added depth in the secondary: “The young guys are going to play some snaps for us. We have great competition that creates urgency in the meeting room – creates urgency in the off season. It shows up in the way they play and compete on the practice field. Today when we’re inside the stadium, we have guys that are vets that played a lot of football last year. Those guys have all taken a step in their understanding of how we want to play, too. We absolutely have more depth, more competition. As we get closer to kickoff, figuring out the rotation, so those guys continue to compete and show that they’re going to play at a championship level.”
