Tennessee DC Derrick Ansley and OC Jim Chaney met with the media today to discuss their groups on each side of the ball, as Fall Camp continued to roll on.
Ansley discussed the inside LB position “sophomore Quavaris Crouch is the guy right now on the depth chart opposite Henry To’o To’o at inside linebacker. It’s an open competition right now, with Jeremy Banks fighting for that spot as well”
When talking about the defensive line, Ansley noted an area they have to improve on “Control the line of scrimmage, if we can do that consistently and not have to move guys out of the 3 and 4 then I think we’ll be successful”
Derrick Ansley made it a point of emphasis regarding the secondary “Trevon Flowers, Alontae Taylor, Bryce Thompson, Theo Jackson, all of those guys on the backend, have really taken it upon themselves to bring on guys like Keshawn Lawrence and Doneiko Slaughter, guys that have talent and are counting on to add depth to our backend”
Ansley added “If we get everyone doing things the right way, we have a chance to be okay.”
Ansley mentioned Latrell Bumphus and Mathew Butler as two of the guys battling it out and showing the leadership up front. JJ Peterson is a guy who is playing the outside linebacker spot right now
Tennessee OC Jim Chaney was next up during the media session, with high praise for certain position groups.
Chaney said Jarrett Guarantano continues to grow and is very comfortable in the development of his game. “He had some inconsistency last season, but he is a kid who wants to win at Tennessee and give everything he’s got”
“JT has done a very good job with concepts and progressing through where they want to go.” Chaney when speaking of QB JT Shrout, who we’ve been told has had a solid start to camp.
But the QB position is Guarantao’s to lose, Chaney added “Right now, everybody is playing football, equal reps across the board with J.T. (Shrout), Brian (Maurer), also with Harrison (Bailey). We’re giving everybody as many reps as we can. Everything is up in the air. We’re way too early to make decisions on that and coach is trying to keep us in the most competitive environments we can. They got to be put under the fire, we got to see how they’re going to react when things happen like that to feel comfortable with them playing. They’ll earn that two spot and that three spot and that fourth spot.”
When asked about Harrison Bailey, Chaney mentioned “I think Harrison is going to be a solid football player for us here. He’s learning. It’s the same thing just like those young freshmen wideouts. They’re all learning everything. Unfortunately, Harrison got here early but we only got two days of spring. It would have been really nice to have had him all spring and see where he would be at today. Yesterday, he threw some very nice balls for us. It’s interesting to see how he continues to grow. It’s obvious that some of the concepts he has a grasp on. He plays fast and makes good decisions and there’s other ones that he’s a little confused on and plays a little slower.”
The RB room should be key for the Vols this season and Jim Chaney has been very impressed with the way Ty Chandler and Eric Gray have handled themselves. Chaney. “I like them both. They’re both very competitive kids. They both are determined to have good seasons. You can just see there’s an air of maturity about those two kids when they walk out on the field. They do their business. They’re real professional in how they look at it. They’re trying to get better at specific things as they go on the football field.”
It’s key for guys like Josh Palmer and Brandon Johnson to be the leaders of the WR room, especially with so many younger guys, Even for a player like Ramel Keyton, as Chaney said “Ramel is a strong kid. He looks a little wiry but very strong, strong handed kid. Had a real good practice yesterday, real pleased with him. He can be as good as he determines he wants to be. That’s Ramel. He’s still a young player, learning but boy when he wants to go he’s a good football player.”
It’s only six full practices into Fall Camp 2020, but it sounds like both coordinators are excited about the potential of their groups and with that many key contributors returning, how couldn’t you be.
Tennessee is off today and will return to the practice field on Friday.
All video courtesy of Tennessee Athletic Communications
