War Room: Tennessee spring ball notes, recruiting nuggets, hoops and more
We begin this edition of the War Room as we always do. The War Room is a collective effort of Tennessee notes and news gathered throughout the week by the Volquest staff. And now, it’s on with the news.
Tennessee has wrapped up week two of spring ball and the Vols are half way through spring practice which wraps up on Saturday, April 13th with the Orange & White game.
For Josh Heupel and company much remains about the development of youth and the transfers.
The transfers have made definitely made an early impression. As we have mentioned, Alabama transfer tight end Miles Kitselman has been a bit of a surprise to start spring ball. Kitselman’s physicality has shown up since pads have gone on. Tennessee’s depth at that position with Kitselman looks better. Holden Staes is still learning the offense and continues to need to grow as a blocker. Ethan Davis has gotten off to a nice start leading that group.
Transfer receiver Chris Brazzell has had a good week and seems to settling in. Mike Matthews has flashed for two weeks making plays. Donte Thornton his clearly most comfortable outside.
The competition at the receiver spot is only going to get more intense over the next two weeks.
On the offensive line, Sham Umarov is working almost exclusively at left guard and has a huge opportunity this month. Umarov has had his best work to date, but there’s still plenty of room to grow. As we mentioned on the podcast, Dayne Davis is likely to be the back up center as of now. Tennessee is still working Vysen Lang there. Lang simply has to play faster at that position. It will be interesting if we hear of Lang getting any work at guard. Lance Heard has been far from perfect, but everyone loves what Heard has done to this point. There’s plenty of comfort with Heard at left tackle. Tennessee needs more competition at the tackle spot to create some depth. The reality is that while Tennessee has an abundant of riches on the defensive line. Great depth across the board especially in the line of scrimmage in the day and age of the transfer portal simply isn’t very realistic. After all it’s why Heard left LSU. He wanted to play and not be the third tackle on the offensive line. Tennessee has some bodies at the tackle spot that they like for down the road, but Jesse Perry and Trevor Duncan are a ways away from being ready. It will be interesting to see what kind of shape Bennett Warren arrives in and were he is at this summer as he is further along in his development coming out of high school than Perry or Duncan.
The development gap between starters and some of the back ups is why Dayne Davis is such an important piece to the offensive front in 2024. Now the depth at guard is not a real concern/issue when you look at the bodies they have there.
At running back, Desean Bishop and Kalifa Keith are going to get every opportunity under the sun the next two weeks with Cam Seldon out. Their work to close spring is vitally important because it will determine Tennessee’s thought process at running back when the portal window opens in April.
At quarterback, Nico Iamaleava continues to manage things week. The offense has a chance to be more dynamic and more like 2022 with Iamaleava at quarterback. Iamaleava has really made a lot of strides since early December when he learned his would start the bowl game. He’s physically and mentally grown a great deal the last four months.
Defensively, the defensive line is deep. They are a legitimate six deep at defensive tackle. Tyrone Weathersby continues to do well as he recovers from the hip surgery. Weathersby physically hasn’t just rehabbed well, he’s grown. The Georgia native is 18 pounds heavier than when he arrived and is pushing 265 pounds.
Daevin Hobbs hasn’t lost weight but he has gotten leaner. Hobbs is between 280-285 pounds. Which is 12 pounds heavier than when he arrived a year ago.
The bottom line is that this is a good looking defensive line that is deep that has a great culture/buy in with veteran coach Rodney Garner. They should be fun to watch and they are a daily challenge for the offensive front inside and outside.
At linebacker, Jeremiah Tellander and William Inge seem like a good match. Tellander is the son of a coach who loves ball and Inge is a teacher of details. You can tell that in watching him on the practice field. Tellander is getting a ton of opportunities with Elijah Herring out and the medical staff being cautious with Keenan Pili. The other guy at linebacker that’s getting some chances despite having just arrived is Edwin Spillman. Spillman isn’t showing up in a ton of 11 on 11 stuff as he’s trying to learn the defense, but in position drills, it’s pretty clear he will hit you. Spillman should be a real factor on special teams this fall.
Speaking of special teams there’s a real thought that the college game could move to the NFL’s new kickoff rules pretty quickly if it works well in the NFL. There’s no question the NFL thinks it will change that part of the game a great deal which is why Mike Tomlin immediately sought Cordarelle Patterson when he believed the new kickoff rule would pass.
In the secondary, as a group they clearly move better. Temple transfer Jalen McMurray has been solid and appears to be a guy who will be in the two deep and a part of a rotation assuming Willie Martinez rotates corners like he did a year ago. Who the fourth corner is going to be is interesting to keep an eye on as Cristian Conyer and Jordan Matthews seem to be the guys there. Both Boo Carter and Edrees Farooq have shown up as Josh Heupel noted on Wednesday. Andre Turrentine has had a solid spring. John Slaughter had his best week as a Vols this week as well.
Tennessee athletically has a chance to be very much improved in the back end compared to a year ago which makes the balance of how sophisticated you are vs. not slowing guys down critical to achieve.
Recruiting
Tennessee picked up a big commitment on Thursday night when Ethan Utley announced his decision in front of family and friends. Texas made a huge impression on him and things were really close but his relationship with Rodney Garner and several members of the recruiting class, played the key role in his decision to stay home.
Next weekend will be a big one as Tennessee will host multiple big time offensive tackles. Both Douglas Utu and Juan Gaston will be in town.
As far as Gaston goes, he is a young man of few words but sources tell us that he and his family are very fond of Glen Elarbee. Tennessee is one of his top schools and he and his mom will be in town next weekend.
Tennessee has had some really good dialogue with Utu and next weekend will go a long way to see how serious Utu is about Rocky Top long term.
There are a couple of defensive backs already in the class, but they’re also a few that Tennessee is hoping to get back to campus here soon. Shemari Earls, Donovan Starr and Sidney Walton all have Tennessee’s attention and each showcase length.
Radarius Jackson will make his way to campus next weekend. Jackson is high on the list for Kelsey Pope and Josh Heupel. Expect lots of attention on him next weekend.
This is a big weekend in the Charles House recruitment in our estimation. He will be in Athens Georgia for the next couple of days and they are definitely Tennessee’s biggest competition. With the Bulldogs losing out on a couple of in-state defensive lineman, we won’t be surprised if they push hard for House.
Speaking of the defensive line, Bryce Jenkins continues to have a lot of dialogue with Tennessee with the Volunteers and South Carolina, seeming to have the most momentum.
We still expect Dontrell Glover to be in town on April 6th as the Vols continue to work in his recruitment. Florida State has maintained some momentum here, but Glover has not yet been to campus at Tennessee, so getting him to town is important for the Vols. He has hit it off with Glen Elarbee and the family has a long-standing relationship with offensive analyst Max Thurmond, who coached his uncle in college.
Virginia defensive lineman Caleb Williams was in town over the weekend, and he is high on Tennessee early in the process. He has connected with Rodney Garner and Coach Chop during this recruitment. South Carolina appears to be Tennessee’s biggest competitor right now. Williams plans to return to Knoxville in June for an official visit.
Several other names along the defensive front that have expressed interest in coming to campus in the coming weeks include Nate Marshall, Mariyon Dye, Charles House, Brandon Caesar, and Nasir Wyatt.
Tennessee continues to swing at several out-of-state receivers. Caleb Cunningham is expected in town on Monday, and Travis Smith is expected in town next Saturday. These two are both looking to learn more about the Vols offense during their visit. They both have strong relationships with Kelsey Pope they will also look to build upon.
The more we check around on Eric Winters, the more we continue to believe Tennessee made a very strong impression last weekend. He has connected well with Coach Chop throughout the process, and his initial impressions of William Inge could not have been better from the visit. Georgia and Auburn are two other teams standing out in this one. We expect a summertime decision for the four-star from Alabama.
Tennessee continues to show well in the recruitment of Lagonza “Shaedy” Hayward. The Vols impressed again last week and will look to carry that momentum over into summertime official visits. Florida State remains a team to watch, while Alabama is swinging away here as well. We are continuing to watch and see if Georgia becomes more involved. Hayward’s bond with Tim Banks and several others on the staff has put the Vols in a good spot coming out of March.
Hoops
Tennessee goes after the program’s second ever Elite Eight berth tonight when the Vols face Creighton in Detroit.
Santiago Vescovi didn’t practice on Thursday in Detroit and Rick Barnes termed him ‘under the weather.’
Vescovi did accompany the team to Little Ceaser’s Arena and watched practice from the sidelines. Were Vescovi severely ill, or contagious, Tennessee likely would have taken more precautions.
Barnes said on Thursday that he expected Vescovi to play Friday night.
When the Vols do tip against Creighton there are a few things the staff is paying particular attention to.
In talking to folks this week, one area of the game plan that’s getting a lot of emphasis is transition defense. Creighton wants to push it, and Tennessee is making it a focal point to not give up any quick and easy offense.
The Bluejays are an efficient half court offense —any squad that shoots 49% as a team is — but Tennessee seems to like its chances of slowing them down in the half court.
Another aspect of the Vols’ defensive game plan to watch tonight is obviously going to be how they guard the three-point line.
Creighton shot more threes (939) than anyone in the SEC outside of Alabama this season. They will spread the floor with shooters around 7-footer Ryan Kalkbrenner and put four guys out there that you have to guard.
Tennessee is probably better set up to handle that kind of extreme spacing around a big than most teams, but Creighton is very good at what they do.
As we mentioned in the podcast this week Kim English’s Providence team beat Creighton twice this year and it’s an exceedingly safe bet that the Vols’ staff has been picking English’s brain for tips this week.
In talking to people around the program this week one key to tonight’s game—and really any game for this team—is to keep the Vols’ bigs out of foul trouble. That was an issue with Tobe Awaka last week against Texas and has been an issue at various times along the way this year.
Lastly, Detroit isn’t exactly in Knoxville’s backyard, but this has been a tough ticket for many Tennessee fans this week. Purdue is going to obviously have a lot of support here, but don’t be surprised if you see a lot of Orange on your television, or if you’re in Detroit, on the streets.
Baseball
Tennessee baseball is back into conference play this weekend when Georgia comes to town. The Bulldogs lead the nation with 74 home runs while Tennessee is second with 68 long balls. Charlie Condon is a problem and will have to be pitched to carefully all weekend long. The slugging first baseman and outfielder leads the nation with a .517 batting average and 17 home runs.
The Vols have been dealing with their fair share of injuries of late. As noted on the board Thursday, pitcher AJ Russell avoided the big injury but will be out for a few weeks. The hope is he can return and help the team down the stretch. Barring a setback, that should happen. This is the second injury he’s dealt with this season. Tough for the former Opening Day starter who struck out 10 against Texas Tech in Arlington.
Third baseman Billy Amick will be out this week as he recovers from an appendix situation. He’ll be out Tuesday as well and they’ll regroup ahead of the Auburn series to determine his availability. This is not a long-term injury for Amick, which is a good thing. Expect to see the two freshmen Dean Curley and Ariel Antigua patrolling in the left side of the infield while Amick is out at third and shortstop, respectively.
Right-handed reliever Marcus Phillips made his return to the mound on Tuesday and tossed a scoreless frame against Tennessee Tech. Due to injuries, he’s yet to make his SEC debut, but that will likely come this weekend. Utility Dalton Bargo will once again be available to pinch hit this weekend and should return to the field next weekend at Auburn.
First baseman Blake Burke enters the weekend riding a 16-game hitting streak and a 23-game on-base streak. He’s one home run shy of tying Luc Lipcius for the program-record of 40 career home runs. After a three-home run weekend against Ole Miss, Christian Moore sits just three behind the leader and two behind Burke with 37 career home runs. Evan Russell finished his Tennessee career with 39 home runs and Todd Helton with 38 home runs.
The post War Room: Tennessee spring ball notes, recruiting nuggets, hoops and more appeared first on On3.
