Tennessee Football: Butch Jones Using Drone to Film Vols' Practice

Video technology is constantly evolving and improving the way fans and coaches view the game of football, and Tennessee is using that technology to take football practice to the next level.

Literally.

First-year head coach Butch Jones had a drone film practice on Wednesday, giving the coaching staff a unique camera angle on the action. 

Video of the drone warming up was caught by Evan Woodbery of the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel and posted on his Twitter account.

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The drone getting warmed up. vine.co/v/bUAta0rlwZa

— Evan Woodbery (@TennesseeBeat) April 18, 2013"

When asked about the different camera angles after practice, Jones said it was just an experiment that he and his staff decided might be a good idea.

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It's a number of guys. It's our support staff, it's [Sports Technology Coordinator] Joe Harrington. It's everyone just always trying to make the program better each and every day. That's the culture that we're building here. It doesn't matter if it's our secretaries, our equipment staff, our training staff, or our cooks. How can we make Tennessee football better each and every day?

"

It's certainly innovative.

While wide-angle views can give coaching staffs the "all-22" angle from a side or front/back angle, the only true overhead shot available is the sky-cam shot on cables that several networks use during games.

Using a drone replicates that angle during practice situations.

Will Jones and his staff discover something from the drone's footage that better helps them make personnel decisions in Year 1 of the new era of Vol football? That remains to be seen. But bravo on being creative.

If you have the technology, use it. Tennessee chose to do so on Wednesday, and it will be interesting to see if more programs adopt the method moving forward.

My guess is that this isn't a one-time experiment and will be the start of a trend in college football.

Follow @BarrettSallee