Secrets are hard to guard when 200 people are involved.
There was supposed to be no news from Tennessee football’s second scrimmage but some spilled out. Safety Dejuan Lane intercepted a George MacIntyre pass and turned it into a touchdown. Tre Poteat had what looked like another pick-six but dropped it.
Good news: MacIntyre improved as the Neyland Stadium Saturday session continued. He threw a TD pass to Ian Duarte.
Josh Heupel has not yet named a starting quarterback.
Faizon Brandon may have been a better runner than passer. He got away for a 30-yard run and was scrambling toward another big play when officials stopped the action under the no-contact format.
Later, defensive lineman Tyree Weathersby sacked Brandon (two-hand touch) and the QB snapped back with a long completion to Mike Matthews. That was erased by a holding penalty.
That leads to another reported tidbit: The offense had too many infractions.
More news, good for the defense, bad for Brandon: T.J. Metcalf made an outstanding play to pick off a Faizon pass.
More good news for the defense: Big men up front, particularly tackles Daevin Hobbs and Xavier Gilliam, had a strong scrimmage. Weathersby, Jordan Norman, Nathan Robinson and Mariyon Dye were said to be effective. Confidence is supposedly high among interior defensive linemen.
As usual, Heupel offered an overall positive review of results.
“Good second scrimmage. A bunch of situational work, crowd noise like you’re on the road, a lot of mechanics, communication things that we did well, and some things that offensively, particularly, we learned. Got to continue to get better at that. But all in all, good work.
“I thought defense did a good job, created a couple turnovers, played assignment sound. Offensively, didn’t play as clean as we need to. Some of that was communication, but some really positive things there, too.”
Heupel said the quarterbacks, generally speaking, have done a really good job taking care of the football, making decisions and controlling the offense.
“Today, there were some real positives and some things that they’re going to learn from.”
Heupel was asked to assess both sides of the line of scrimmage.
“Some positives on both sides. I thought the D line was able to apply some pressure. Some of that was where we’re at in the protection of quarterbacks. Offensively, I thought there were some things that were really good in the run game, but not as consistent as we need to be. There were live parts of the scrimmage and some thud plays.”
Heupel was asked if the Vols are about where he thought they would be at this stage of preseason preparations.
“I feel like there are some real positives. There are some young guys that I want to go back and watch the tape. As a football team, they’ve competed, they’ve practiced hard. I think we’ve grown tremendously in fundamentals, our technique. We’ve got two weeks left. We need to continue to grow.”
The coach said the defense has developed some personality.
“Aggressive nature, multiple in what we’re doing. One of the great positives to Jim (Knowles) is the ability to take advantage of the skill sets of guys that are ready to play and call it to their traits. You can see that in some of our packages.”
So, how about the tackling?
“In all, pleased. Not just today, but in this training camp, fundamentally, technically, ultimately getting guys on the ground, our defense in particular, but even some of the offense guys on special teams have really continued to grow.
“You’re never perfect, in particular out in space, but I feel like we’ve grown. We need to continue to do that in smart ways over the next two weeks.”
Tennessee opens September 5 against Furman at Neyland Stadium. The season gets more serious a week later at Georgia Tech.
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Marvin West welcomes comments and questions from readers at marvinwest75@gmail.com Read more westwords by Marvin West.
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Consistent with what we always get from Sir West, we now have much more info than any of the “slick cover-significantly overpriced prediction annuals” now on our grocery store shelves reveal.
And what I just read “tells it like it is.” I for one like what I read. Two QBs showing great promise against a re-tooled defense recently imported from who knows where…but who cares “from where.” Now the countdown begins. 13 DAYS
I copied down the new names. Turbeyville (Josh, not Tommy….I hope), Lane, Poteat, Duarte, Weathersby, Matthews, Norman, Robinson, Metcalf and Dye. Sounds like Faison and McIntyre are waging a pretty good battle for the Tailback position……OOPS, I’m sorry …Etter lead us away from the single wing into the “T” formation as the 60’s began.
THANKS MUCH for a two-week head start on our new and improved edition of THE Big Orange…..straight from the pen of the most reliable scribe in captivity.
AGAIN…THANKS MARVIN…….”it’s FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE”……ALMOST
Yes, Marvin is the best.
I will take Heupel’s scratchy, old vanilla record vs. a Belicheat response of 1) stare, 2) grunt or 3) no.
It appears we are doing somethings well and some things not so well. Oh, well.
Marvin turns vanilla into good vanilla puddin’, so we at least have some idea what is going on. The story will be written, maybe, at Georgia Tech and surely with Texas. Patience.
Great “Insider” Information Mr. West! I know you are connected! I am beginning to Drink the Orange KoolAid! Reading your column is such a breath of fresh air compared to the amateurs out there. And the economy is appreciated. “It’s not what you say, It’s how you say it”. You say it best.