The Volunteers held practice on Saturday ahead of their first scrimmage of fall camp. A few nuggets from the scrimmage:
- Keller Chryst had a better day than Jarrett Guarantano. Chryst was more accurate and did a superior job reading defenses, per a source.
- Jauan Jennings was held out of practice with a hyperextended knee, according to head coach Jeremy Pruitt. It was, however, little more than a cautionary measure. Were it a game, Jennings would have suited up.
- The linebacking group continues to be a “bright spot” on Pruitt’s defense. They played “really well”, according to a source at the scrimmage.
- Jonathan Kongbo is picking up the switch from lineman to outside linebacker “pretty well”, turning into a vocal leader for the group, per sources.
- Speaking of leadership, Shy Tuttle and Kyle Phillips have turned into the leaders of the defensive front. Both continue to vocally push their teammates to improve.
- Graduate transfer Madre London had a “surprisingly good day” according to those at the scrimmage. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned into our third-down back”, a source said.
Pruitt’s quotes following Sunday’s scrimmage:
- On the quarterback situation… “If you look over all practices, nobody has really separated themselves.”
- On running backs and competition at positions… “I thought our running backs ran pretty well today, think we have to improve blocking on the perimeter with the wide receivers. Still lots of competition. This will probably be ongoing throughout fall camp. As the scrimmage went, the better they got.”
- According to Jeremy Pruitt: Tennessee got in 116 plays today in the scrimmage & moved a lot of guys around. “Pretty inconsistent on both sides of the ball — had some penalties & turnovers”
- Nothing has changed with tackle Trey Smith. He’s still on schedule for August 19th timeline, according to Pruitt.
- Will McBride got some work in with the 2’s. Pruitt says JT Shrout might have the best arm out of all four quarterbacks.
Tennessee will be back on the practice field on Tuesday.
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