Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

College Football

Vols’ spring game highlights: Smiles, captains, big plays, bigger expectations

Chris Wright

By Chris Wright

Published:

Josh Dobbs’ first pass was dropped.

His second deflected off tight end Jason Croom’s chest and was intercepted.

Not to worry.

Dobbs and the offense quickly found their stride on a day a wild scoring format rendered the result more fun than significant — just like the circle of life drill at midfield that opened Tennessee’s spring game and halftime one-on-one competitions.

Tennessee coach Butch Jones divided the teams into offense and defense, and both teams were rewarded for making plays.

Dobbs opened his second drive with a 57-yard strike to Ethan Wolf on a seam route, a route the Volunteers ran so successfully against Northwestern in the Outback Bowl.

He followed with a strike to Preston Williams, who fought off man coverage and made a nice diving catch to set up John Kelly’s touchdown run.

During halftime, Williams was named Tennessee’s most improved offensive player, and he’ll be a key in Tennessee’s expanded passing game.

He opened the second half with another big play, this time from backup quarterback Quinten Dormady.

Running back shuffle

Kelly took most of the early snaps and was largely impressive, repeatedly getting to the outside.

Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara didn’t start and weren’t eligible to be tackled — though Hurd sought contact on his first carry.

Kamara’s first play was a halfback pass, which he overthrew.

Fun and games

Jones also broke up the scrimmage with one-on-one drills, the first of which matched Williams against standout defensive back Cameron Sutton. Williams got behind Sutton on a fade route but couldn’t haul in the pass for a touchdown.

Jeff George, a 6-6 redshirt freshman, followed in the one-on-ones … impressively.

Jones also had a quarterback competition, consisting of various combine-like drills and a throwback to Vols’ history.

At halftime, Steve Spurrier, a Tennessee native who grew up going to Volunteers games, told the SEC Network that the Vols were working toward a breakout year.

Former Vols great Al Wilson told the network that Jones was doing an “unbelievable” job in restoring the program.

Maybe that’s why the third-largest spring crowd in history showed up Saturday, even on a day the Vols’ stars were largely off-limits and out of sight.

No idea, either, whether Allen Iverson counted as one of the 67,027. Iverson, a basketball star at Georgetown, was a standout high school football player in Virginia.

Jones names permanent captains

Later, Jones introduced his permanent captains: Sutton, Kamara, Dobbs and Jalen Reeves-Maybin.

Kamara told the crowd they were going all the way.

Dobbs said the Vols were trying to get back to Tampa, site of the national championship game.

“We’ll see you guys in Florida,” Dobbs aid.

Reeves-Maybin told the crowd he gets goose bumps every time he steps on his home field, and the spring game was no exception, even though he wasn’t playing.

He promised he was going to help get the Vols “back to where we should be, back on top,” he said. “That’s where we belong.”

Speaking of 2016 …

https://twitter.com/Volquest_Paul/status/721432716647002113

https://twitter.com/Volquest_Paul/status/721433787167612928

https://twitter.com/Volquest_Paul/status/721433902036971521

Chris Wright
Chris Wright

Managing Editor

A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.

You might also like...

2025 RANKINGS

presented by rankings