'Whether it's Tennessee basketball heading into March Madness or the hot start to the season by baseball teams there are a lot of good stories in Tennessee athletics. But just a reminder that two weeks from yesterday Tennessee begins spring practice 2024. We can always make room for a little spring football talk, right? As a general rule, spring football practice is normally kind of so so for me. I do look forward to the Orange & White game. For me though let's just get the players through 15 practices without the team suffering catastrophic injuries.
As we look forward to the basketball tournaments and the start of SEC baseball season, here is a position by position look at some interesting story lines for spring practice.
QUARTERBACK
We can finally say it!! This is now Nico’s team. Nico had a great performance against Iowa on New Year's Day. However, there are still fundamentals and many areas of his game he can improve upon. He has now been on campus for 15 months. He should know the playbook by now. The goals for Nico should be get him comfortable with running the offense with tempo, continue to work on fundamentals, develop better timing with the wide receivers and most importantly keep him healthy. At the Orange & White game just give me a visual of Nico to see if he is bigger and he is healthy.
The quarterback position is not without concerns. Gaston Moore, who came to Tennessee as a walk on, is the backup quarterback. If Nico goes down for any reason, Tennessee is turning to the walk on to run this offense. If Moore stumbles this spring, does true freshman Jake Merklinger, who is going through spring practice, master enough of the playbook to challenge Moore as the backup?
Answers to these questions will determine whether Tennessee considers looking at the portal for quarterback options.
RUNNING BACK
Dylan Sampson and Cam Seldon are presumably the #1 and #2 running backs headed into 2024. However, Tennessee hired a new running back coach in the offseason. With most coaching changes and I expect this one to be no different, most players start all over trying to prove themselves to the new coach. Presuming that Sampson and Seldon do exit the spring as the top running backs, finding a third running back that is a reliable option is critical. Tennessee usually plays a 3 running back rotation or at least they have in the past. Only one of the three running backs behind Sampson and Seldon have carried the ball in college.
What should not be discounted is Sampson has been injured from time to time and Seldon, who is going to be counted on for a heavy workload this fall, carried the ball very little last season.
Peyton Lewis is a true freshman the coaching staff is very high on. He is on campus but recovering from surgery. That is discouraging. When healthy, Lewis is going to get a long look and will push for playing time.
The three keys for this position group during spring practice are: 1) improve pass protection 2) Lewis’ availability for the fall 3) do backups DeSean Bishop and Khalifa Keith challenge Seldon for the back up to Sampson and 4) does Tennessee add another running back from the portal.
TIGHT END 
Tight end is another position with question marks heading into spring practice. There are talented tight ends on campus. The position coach is still learning how to coach the position and the top three tight ends have little or no experience in this offense. The tight end is such an integral part of Josh Heupel’s offense and the fact that last season’s top two tight ends are graduated is concerning.
Tennessee believes sophomore Ethan Davis is a future star. He played sparingly last season, and he has been hurt part of both years on campus. Tennessee brought in Notre Dame transfer Holden Staes and Alabama transfer Miles Kitselman. Staes will create mismatches in opposing secondaries because of his speed however he must become a willing blocker for this offense to excel. Same with Kitselman. He was a staple on Alabama special teams during his time there. He was signed here to block and to play special teams. He may be one of the more underrated pick-ups in the portal.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Tennessee’s starting offensive line is set but for the left guard position. Four players Jackson Lampley, Dayne Davis, Andrej Karic, and Vysen Lang are competing for the starting left guard position. It is a big spring for Lang not only because he is competing for a starting spot, but he appears to be the heir apparent to Cooper Mays at center.
It is also a big spring for many of the reserve offensive lineman. Returners like Larry Johnson, Masai Reddick, Ayden Bussell, Brian Grant, and Andrej Karic are in no man’s land. These players have been on campus for multiple years and haven’t developed quite as quickly as Tennessee anticipated. There are four true freshman offensive linemen on campus going through spring practice. These freshmen are going to push these returners for backup roles and playing time. Tennessee has to find out how many of the returners and true freshmen can play because Tennessee loses 4 of 5 starting offensive lineman as well as key backs after the 2024 season.
WIDE RECEIVERS
SEC analysts project Tennessee’s wide receiver group to be the most talented in the SEC. Personally, it’s hard to argue that point. This is one of the deeper and talented wide receiver groups I can recall. Much like the offensive line, Tennessee has a core group of returning receivers in Bru McCoy, Squirrel White and transfer Chris Brazzell who have played at a high level in college.
Then, there is another group who have played : Chaz Nimrod, Dont’e Thornton, and Kaleb Webb. And there is Nathan Leacock (who redshirted). All are talented but haven’t quite progressed the way this offense needs them to. True freshman Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews are both going to be hard to keep on the sidelines. Staley and Matthews look nothing like true freshman and are frankly faster, more athletic, and more explosive than the players trying to fend them off.
You could see players leaving via the transfer portal at wide receiver, running back, and offensive line position after spring practice? Conversely, in positions where there is limited depth like tight end and running back you could see Tennessee shoot its shot in the portal.
The keys for me for the offense are obviously avoiding major injury, is Gaston Moore clearly the No.2 quarterback exiting spring practice, who emerges at running back behind Sampson and Seldon, who leaves spring as the favorite for the left guard position, and how far along are wide receivers Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley after fifteen practices?
Tomorrow we'll look at Defense!
Thanks for reading ...
I'm excited for some Spring ball.
'X'
