UT starting fast, furious

On Friday afternoon, Tennessee’s football coaches finally got a chance to eyeball their players on the field for the first time since spring practice ended in March.

What they saw — and what they were looking for — came pretty close to matching up in the Vols’ opening day of fall camp, which began at Lindsey Nelson Stadium before moving indoors due to afternoon storms.

Tennessee ran through all of its formations and defensive fronts Friday, with an eye on fundamentals. And for the next week or so, coaches will be driving with heavy feet. They’ll throw as much of the Vols’ playbook at newcomers and veterans alike and see what sticks.

“We’re going to pile things on for the next six days and then back off,” said offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe. “But for the next six days, we’re going to challenge them mentally as well as physically and then we’ll start narrowing in on what we think we might could do well with those people that are new.”

Twenty-two newcomers finished their first college practice Friday.

Five of those — Kenny O’Neal, Gerald Jones, Brent Vinson, Ahmad Paige and Denarius Moore — enter camp as wide receivers. Tyler Maples, Eric Berry, DeAngelo Willingham, Nevin McKenzie, C.J. Fleming and Anthony Anderson are defensive backs.

“There are some young guys that look like they’re going to push themselves pretty quickly into the mix,” UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. “I don’t know who those are just yet. But we’re off to a good start.”

Soon enough comes the process of deciding who gets practice repetitions, and who might be headed for a redshirt.

With a difficult three-game stretch to open the season, practice snaps will be spent on players who can and will play.

Fulmer said that Berry and McKenzie are “in the mix” at cornerback and safety, respectively. But with a crowded secondary, he stressed the need to identify and develop the two-deep roster first.

“Our situation is that we cannot sit around here and work with 15 guys for all of two-a-days,” Fulmer said. “We will narrow that list as soon as we can, and part of that has to be in pads and get eight, nine, maybe 10 guys ready for the first three games. Then as we go along, I hope that other guys get a chance to develop and play. That’s where we are.”

The Vols don’t put on pads until Tuesday, because of the NCAA-mandated acclimation period. They won’t hold their first scrimmage until next Saturday, but shortly thereafter, the thinning-out process will begin.

Fulmer and Cutcliffe said it would take at least one scrimmage, perhaps two, to truly have an idea which newcomers will contribute most.

One thing Tennessee doesn’t have to worry about is losing anyone mid-camp because of academics.

All of UT’s 27 incoming scholarship players have made it through the NCAA Clearinghouse by the start of fall camp, as opposed to last fall when three players were deemed ineligible just days before the season opener.

“I give our administration some credit for that because they put a June deadline on things to be done, and we followed through with that,” Fulmer said. “It’s really nice to have them out here and not have those questions and those distractions and the ‘what ifs.’ ”

Now the biggest ‘what ifs’ are which newcomers will play significant roles this fall.

Receivers coach Trooper Taylor said he’d ideally like to have four primary receivers ready for the opener Sept. 1 at California.

“It’s kind of like being out there with your starting five in basketball,” Taylor said. “You want to know you can make that no-look pass, and he’s going to be there. Same thing, getting that rhythm and getting that timing. You can’t get it with 12 guys.”

And if they can play, they will play.

“I have no fear of playing young people. If they’re football players, they know how to make plays,” Cutcliffe said. “We’re going to accelerate them and accelerate everybody here, see who the playmakers are going to be. We’ve got about two weeks to really get into that and then we’ve got to make some serious decisions.”

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.