Tennessee Football: Top Takeaways from 2015 Fall Camp
Game week is upon us, and for the Tennessee football team and its fans, it couldn't come soon enough.
Maybe if the Vols get to beat up on another team, they'll quit beating up on each other (more on that in a minute).
Coach Butch Jones will carry his No. 25-ranked team to Nashville for a home game away from home this Saturday against Mid-American Conference upstart Bowling Green. While that may not be one of the marquee showdowns of Week 1, it will provide some challenges.
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UT has spent most of preseason camp preparing itself rather than preparing for the Falcons.
From getting a huge class of freshmen prepared to mixing and matching players all over the field to finding the best personnel groupings for every situation, this fall has been about experimentation on Rocky Top.
It's also been about seeing how far this team's limits are—and there were times, as the injuries show, when they may have gone past the brink. As Volquest's John Brice wrote this week:
"…[I]t's no secret Butch Jones prides himself in believing he constantly knows the pulse of his team. I give the coach credit, especially if the Vols find the success they believe possible this season, for pushing his team to the brink during a late-camp practice in which he forced a couple of restarts, from stadium to complex, and then got his squad's legs and minds back thereafter.
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The Vols have a team full of talented players, but no matter how much the media wants to trumpet an upstart sleeping giant ready to wake up and start devouring opponents, this offseason showed chinks in the armor: particularly depth.
As deeper, more experienced teams pop up on Tennessee's schedule, it'll be interesting to see how the young product Jones has assembled stacks up.
We learned some things about the 2015 version of the Vols during the past month, but what we can't know until the season starts is how much headway they made toward closing the gap between themselves and legit contenders.
Let's take a look at some of the top takeaways from the past few weeks.
Plague of injury bugs swarm on Knoxville
By the end of fall camp, things got ridiculous.
Tennessee fans are at the point now where they're almost afraid to boot up the computer and go to message boards or news sites after practice for fear of hearing about the latest key contributor who was going to be lost for an extended period of time because of injury.
You'd be hard-pressed to name a handful of players on UT's roster who weren't held out at times throughout the past month because of some bump or bruise.
A lot of those, such as starting guard Jashon Robertson, who missed time with an ankle injury and a digestive issue, are at least back on the field.
Some were much more serious than that.
- Starting left guard Marcus Jackson was lost for the season with a torn biceps. He had more starts than any lineman on UT's roster and would have almost certainly played a prominent role.
- Then, in a bizarre case of deja vu, reserve guard Austin Sanders was lost for the year with the same injury.
- Surging sophomore Rashaan Gaulden—a sophomore nickelback who had impressed in the spring and again this fall and was poised to win the job—broke his foot and is also out for the season.
- Jones told the Chattanooga Times Free Press' Brown that starting safety LaDarrell McNeil will miss an "extended period of time" with a neck injury. If it's a lingering issue, it could end his UT career.
- Freshman slot receiver Vincent Perry tore the meniscus in his knee, will have surgery and is likely headed for a redshirt season.
- Finally, redshirt junior Jason Croom, who could be a very valuable receiving target for Dobbs, got his knee scoped this week and is expected to miss at least a month of the season.
When you throw in key cogs such as receiver Marquez North and cornerback Justin Martin, who have been gimpy throughout fall camp and still aren't practicing at full strength, it's been a really difficult month.
The Vols may wind up looking like a M.A.S.H. unit against Bowling Green, and it's essential that they wind up minimizing injuries from now until the season opener.
Considering injuries always happen throughout the course of a rigorous season, the Vols are a couple of bumps and bruises at vital positions away from being in dire straits. This isn't a great start for a team that may be talented but isn't deep all over the field.
They'll be tested.
Skill-position talent could be spectacular
Recruiting has been very good to Tennessee, and this is the year the Vols should really start seeing the fruits of their labor on the football field.
While the most noticeable areas of the talent upgrade may be on coordinator John Jancek's defense, the offense has its share of potential playmakers.
Quarterback Joshua Dobbs has made some strides since last season, and him taking the next step toward becoming a dual-threat star is essential to UT's success. The difference is in his accuracy, which offensive coordinator Mike DeBord told GoVols247's Wes Rucker was "really good" recently.
Can Dobbs take his game to another level against Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas, Georgia and Alabama? If he doesn't, the Vols will have a hard time having a breakthrough season.
Even so, he won't have to do it alone.
Running backs Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara have been lauded all spring and again during fall camp. They've shown the ability to get tough yards and run away from defenders.
If you can do that against UT's defense, unlike in years before, you should be able to do it against most others as well.
Running backs coach Robert Gillespie is known for his tough-love approach to his players, but even he has been gushing over what he has in positional meetings.
The third player to which Gillespie was referring is a mystery, but after Hurd and Kamara, UT has senior transfer Ralph David Abernathy IV and the freshman tandem of John Kelly and Joe Young. All have shown flashes of brilliance this fall, so it's anybody's guess who the third is.
When you throw those guys in with a receiving corps that can still go eight or nine deep even with the injuries and add sophomore Ethan Wolf, who appears poised for a breakout season, and you see why there are so many weapons on that side of the ball.
It's not out of the realm of possibility that UT could score a lot of points this year, but in order for that to happen, one major area needs answers:
Offensive line is still a question mark
DeBord and offensive line coach Don Mahoney spent much of the past month trying linemen virtually everywhere across the front to find their best five, six and seven players.
They likely didn't do that because they're comfortable, either.
On one hand, UT doesn't know exactly what it has. On the other, at least all this mixing and matching will help UT be versatile.
"We try not to have any guys that are one-trick ponies," sophomore guard Jashon Robertson told Brown. "We try to have a group of versatile guys that can play in various positions. It don't matter who plays beside me, or who plays beside the next guy. We all know that we've all got each other's back."
Only redshirt senior left tackle Kyler Kerbyson stayed in his allotted position during the majority of camp. The Vols have switched out guards, replaced the right tackle and tried a veritable revolving door at center to see who is ready to play.
In the process, freshmen Jack Jones and Chance Hall have proven they belong in the mix of playing time. In Jones' case, that may be as a starter at guard.
Sophomore Coleman Thomas has played right tackle, guard and center at various times throughout camp as the coaching staff decides where his skills best match.
Coming off a forgettable season and with a mix of less talented upperclassmen and less experienced freshmen, this is simply the position in which the Vols find themselves.
Mid-state recruiting was strong again
Jones has made the corridor from Murfreesboro to Nashville a priority since coming on as Tennessee's head coach, and this spring is further evidence why.
A year after stalwarts such as Jalen Hurd, Josh Malone, Jashon Robertson and Gaulden proved why that area is a region the Vols need to make a pipeline to Knoxville, this year's haul may even wind up stronger and deeper.
It all starts this season with Jauan Jennings, a converted quarterback-turned-receiver who is the story of the entire fall camp. Not only is he pushing to play a ton of football, he may just wind up starting.
Weeks before the preseason started, the former Blackman High School signal-caller sat down with coaches and discussed a position move. With Dobbs entrenched at quarterback and the way the Vols are recruiting at the position, it just seemed like the right thing to do to move to another spot.
It definitely has worked out for everyone. Jennings told GoVols247's Wes Rucker:
"I thought I could play this year. Josh Dobbs, he's earned the position, so I didn't want to sit down on the sideline. I wanted to explore my talents and see what I could do. Playing receiver, I mean, I didn't really play it 'til I got here. I never played received before. But it's just something, with my talent and skill set, it kind of is natural.
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He has elevated everybody's level of play at the position and may just become UT's next great pass-catcher.
Jennings isn't the only player from the area thriving. The talk of camp on the defensive side of the ball is former Hillsboro High standout defensive end Kyle Phillips.
He was an elite high school talent that was rated a 5-star by 247Sports. Though his path to start is supposedly blocked by UT's duo of talented pass-rushers Derek Barnett and Curt Maggitt, Phillips could find himself in line to start when Maggitt takes a step back to play linebacker.
Phillips is big and strong and can chase down ball-carriers with receiver-like speed. A kid that big shouldn't be able to run like that. He has star written all over him.
Offensive guard Jack Jones made the move inside from tackle where he was playing this spring, and he's right there in the mix to start right away for the Vols a week before the season starts.
The lifelong Vols fan had offers from many of the SEC's top teams but chose to come to Knoxville, and he may wind up being a four-year starter. He's a technician and very strong, and he's benefited from being in a college weight program since January. It looks like he's found a home at guard.
Throw in Martin (who is originally from Overton High School in Nashville) and Perry, who was impressing before he got injured, and that area is going to wind up producing the core to UT's recruiting class.
All those kids who are healthy will play a lot this year. Some of them will star.
Defensive line will be nasty
Last but not least, the offensive line may wind up having some deep-rooted issues, but one thing's for certain: They won't go against many defensive lines as deep and talented as their teammates this year.
Maybe Alabama and Georgia are going to be the only comparable units.
Everybody knows about Barnett and Maggitt, and they could be special when it comes to getting after the quarterback. The duo combined for more sacks than any returning tandem in the nation, and once Maggitt got fully healthy toward the end of the '14 season, he was unblockable.
Phillips has earned significant snaps with his freakish abilities, and he'll produce right away. That's not even mentioning players such as Corey Vereen and LaTroy Lewis, who've been valuable contributors and even starters in the past for UT. They're providing quality depth off the bench along with Dimarya Mixon.
Senior Chris Weatherd will do a nice job in "rabbit" packages designed to get after the quarterback, and he'll back up Maggitt, pin his ears back and speed rush.
When highly rated prospects Andrew Butcher and Darrell Taylor probably will redshirt after strong high school careers, you know you're loaded.
On the interior, UT isn't quite as deep, but there is plenty of talent. The trio of returning starter Danny O'Brien along with Kendal Vickers and Owen Williams enjoyed strong camps and will see plenty of action.
Vaunted freshmen Kahlil McKenzie and Shy Tuttle are living up to the hype, and while neither will likely start the season as starters, they'll be entrenched in the rotation and play a lot, especially against run-heavy teams. If UT needs another body in there, true freshman Quay Picou can help.
Defensive line depth is a luxury position coach Steve Stripling didn't have a season ago. It's one that UT has built through quality recruiting.
The unit has a chance to be a major strength along with the secondary and offensive skill players. If the Vols can find a stellar group of offensive lineman and a viable middle linebacker, and they can stay healthy from now on, 2015 may wind up being the year where the Vols make it all the way back.
All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information obtained from 247Sports unless otherwise noted. All stats gathered from UTSports.com unless otherwise noted.
Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.
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