Tag Archives: Justus PIckett

After departure of Alden Hill, Vols still have plenty of options in backfield

Alden Hill goes through a drill this spring (photos by Evan Woodbery)

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Running back Alden Hill announced on Tuesday that he was leaving the football program.

The third-year sophomore reserve would likely have found it tough to get reps in the increasingly crowded Tennessee backfield.

The Vols are likely to have five scholarship running backs on the roster in 2014, including seniors Marlin Lane and Devrin Young. Three true freshman, including early arrival Jalen Hurd, are also in the fold. Plus, the Vols have added depth from walk-ons Justus Pickett, Chris Beck and Deanthonie Summerhill.

The Vols have only 11 players remaining from the Class of 2012, the last group signed and recruited by Derek Dooley and his staff.

They are: defensive end LaTroy Lewis, defensive tackle Danny O’Brien, linebacker Justin King, linebacker Kenny Bynum, quarterback Nathan Peterman, receiver Jason Croom, receiver Drae Bowles, receiver Cody Blanc and kicker George Bullock. Receiver Alton “Pig” Howard is currently on leave from the program and his future status is uncertain.

Unofficially, the Vols now have 83 players on scholarship.

An updated look at Tennessee’s spring depth chart at the break

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KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — The Tennessee football team is on spring break, the men’s and women’s basketball teams are in the NCAA tournament and I’m taking a few days off this week.

But the break is a good time to review the spring depth charts we unveiled a couple of weeks ago. The depth charts are still unofficial — and very speculative — but we have a lot more to go on than we did before spring began.

The scrimmage on Friday provided some useful guidance, although I tried not to overreact to individual performances — especially at volatile positions like quarterback.

You can see the full depth charts above. Listen below for my take on the Friday scrimmage.

Read on for a summary of some of the changes I made to the charts.

* Receivers are cross-training at several positions right now, and with only eight on scholarship, they all got significant looks in the scrimmage. The actual order is more difficult to decipher.

* At running back, I bumped Alden Hill and Justus Pickett up a notch. Hill risks being a spring hero for the second year in a row, but perhaps he can translate that spring production into more fall playing time in 2014.

* It’s not clear how serious the injury to Jason Carr is, but his absence leaves the Vols with only four scholarship defensive tackles. (Is it too late to get Gregory Clark to change his mind?) Developing better depth at that position will be crucial this summer.

* Freshman walk-on Colton Jumper soared up the depth chart after he played quite a bit on the second-team defense. That could be due to injuries, message-sending or just the fact that Jumper has had a really good spring. Jalen Reeves-Maybin seems to have a good hold on the third linebacker spot, but he will face challenges from new arrivals this summer.

* The defensive backs depth chart has a little more clarity, as we got a good look at the first and second teams in nickel sets. Brian Randolph will reclaim one of those starting safety roles when he returns from injury.

Tennessee spring football: Catching up on video, photos and .gifs from Day 3

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — The Tennessee football doesn’t practice on Wednesday, and by the time the Vols return to action on Thursday, the temperature may have dropped from 72 to 32.

Bugs swarm around Haslam Field on Tuesday (photos by Evan Woodbery)

On a positive note, that might kill the bugs that plagued Tuesday’s practice. And, yes, I made a .gif of them, too.

For some much better photos, check out Adam Lai’s gallery here.

Butch Jones wasn’t entirely pleased with Tuesday’s practice, the first in full pads. He said some of the newcomers weren’t prepared for the pace. He called out one player for putting his hands on his hips — a big no-no in Jones’ world.

Beyond that, what conclusions can we draw through three practices — 20 percent of the spring total? Not a whole lot. All four quarterbacks are getting reps, and we’ve heard good things about Riley Ferguson. I would still be surprised if there’s a firm decision by the end of spring.

Quarterback Joshua Dobbs throws a pass to Justus Pickett (photos by Evan Woodbery)

Running backs break down the huddle during practice (photo by Evan Woodbery)

Depth at the running back spot seems at least serviceable behind Marlin Lane and Jalen Hurd. That’s a good thing because two more scholarship backs are arriving this summer.

Emmanuel Moseley (photos by Evan Woodbery)

In the secondary, coaches clearly like Emmanuel Moseley a lot and are grooming the freshman for a big role in 2014. He’s working as the “first team” cornerback now, with Justin Coleman working at nickel.

Tennessee football position preview: Running backs will lean on Marlin Lane, Jalen Hurd

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The second in a series of position-by-position reviews of the Tennessee football team with an eye toward the start of spring practice in three months.

Rajion Neal celebrates with fans after the Vols beat Kentucky earlier this month (photo by Evan Woodbery)

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — It’s been nearly a decade since Tennessee had more rushing yards than the Vols did in 2013.

While that distinction may speak to the lack of a passing game in this year’s offense, it also speaks to the strength of the Vols’ experienced offensive line and running back duo.

The line will be gone in 2014, but veteran running back Marlin Lane will return. Instead of longtime partner Rajion Neal, Lane will likely be paired with true freshman Jalen Hurd, a five-star prospect who is expected to play an immediate role in the offense.

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Neal is the big loss off the 2013 roster. Reserve Tom Smith also parted ways with the program after the semester.

Smith did well in garbage time roles in 2013, but never threatened for meaningful playing time. Alden Hill seems likely to be in the same role and he must cement his value on special teams in order to be a factor moving forward.

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#PracticeGram: Scenes from Tennessee football this week

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Butch Jones says there are no off-days in August, which unfortunately proved true for me on Thursday.

But while the Vols had meetings and weight-lifting, they didn’t practice on Thursday.

Tennessee practices on Friday afternoon at Haslam Field. On Saturday, the Vols will have a morning session at Haslam before moving over to Neyland Stadium for a closed scrimmage in the evening.

We’ll have plenty of coverage to come down. In the meantime, here are some images from the last two practices.

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Tennessee football practice: First day for Butch Jones’ crew

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — A steamy late afternoon practice at Haslam Field is in the books.

Here are some hastily assembled observations from the open media session. We’ll have more after we talk to players and coaches in a few minutes…

* We saw a lot of veterans trying to help out the younger players. In particular I noticed Jacob Carter helping out some of the freshmen. When freshman Ryan Jenkins messed up on a drill, receivers coach Zach Azzanni said something like, “It’s not your fault,” and implied that players needed to help each other along in the drills.

* Freshman quarterback Josh Dobbs looks a lot more like a football player when he’s in a jersey. He looked incredibly skinny when he was on the sidelines watching practice in street clothes this spring, and he could still add some pounds. But he didn’t look out of place among the other quarterbacks.

* As for Dobbs and fellow freshmen Riley Ferguson, I don’t think we saw enough in Day 1 to register any sort of informed opinion. They weren’t asked to do a lot — at least not while we watching.

* We saw a lot of young guys working on fielding returns, including receiver Josh Smith and defensive back Malik Foreman.

* Walk-on running back Justus Pickett, a Maryland transfer, was working out with his teammates. We’ll see if we get any clarification on his status this weekend.

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