At that point, nobody, save for maybe Barnett, had any idea about the freshman season he was going to have for the Volunteers.
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Tennessee defensive back LaDarrell McNeil runs drills during the… “I was frustrated. As a freshman, everybody goes through it”. All 10 sacks and 18 of those tackles for loss came against Southeastern Conference opposition. “I want to show people that we are the glue that holds it together”.
Barnett quickly identified missing fewer sacks, improving his hand quickness, developing another pass-rushing move or two and using his added strength to his advantage as areas he can improve as a sophomore. But I think it’s [also] the overall confidence level.
Here we will look at the Top 10 players the Tennessee Vols can least afford to lose, based on the talent of those players and the depth of those positions. Fifth-year senior tackle Kyler Kerbyson says that he and his fellow linemen thrive with the outside pressure placed on them.
“Coach Jones has been here a couple of years… and our team has definitely matured a lot since I first got here”, Dobbs said. “He says, ‘I’ll take you out”.
“I felt like when I was younger, competition with the older guys made them better”, he said. We’re not just seen as the easy game on the schedule.
Since he couldn’t practice, Barnett used the spring to sharpen the mental part of his game.
Jones’ squad is loaded at the skill positions on offense, but needs Dobbs to stay healthy and the offensive line to develop if Tennessee is to challenge for the East title.
While Butch Jones’s Vols look to be very deep this year, they could still be in serious trouble if the injury bug bites in the wrong place, or if off-the-field issues hit in the wrong place at the wrong time. “We chart everything so we’ll make sure that we manage them”.
“We have a lot more depth than we had before”, Kerbyson said. “We’ve got guys in the middle who are good”.
The Vols remain a very young and inexperienced team, so the guys on the field with experience need to remain on the field to help bring everybody else along. Teams are going to give us their best, the best that they have. The team’s last winning SEC season was in 2007. Sutton, who has admittedly aimed to take on a stronger leadership role within his defensive unit, put action to words on Tuesday when he made the most of what Jones described as a very particular “leadership opportunity”. Jones said the team speed was “visibly different”, particularly in the offensive backfield.
Tennessee will start preseason practice Tuesday without some members of its highly touted freshman class.
Head coach Butch Jones continued to survey the maturation of his football team after the opening day of training camp, and was quick to focus on junior defensive back Cameron Sutton as a chief instigator in that growth.
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“I’m excited about Jauan”, Jones said. I see an individual who is a very, very gifted athlete.
