Austin Johnson better for experience at LB

Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess

UT linebacker Austin Johnson during practice at Haslam Field on Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010.

There was no competition in the spring.

Austin Johnson was free to chip off the rust as a fill-in for Nick Reveiz without anybody else to really worry about.

There still might not really be much of a head-to-head battle going on between the two now that Tennessee is midway through preseason camp and has both on the field at middle linebacker. But that doesn't mean Johnson can't push Reveiz for some playing time this fall, and the circumstances that brought them together at the same position appear to have elevated the play of both of them heading into today's third scrimmage of the fall.

"I definitely see Nick all the way back healthy," Johnson said. "He's 100 percent, but he's helped me out anytime I needed it. We go up and watch film together - and I feel like I've helped him out, too. Mistakes I've made, he's learned from. Mistakes that he's made, I've learned from.

"We're definitely helping each other out, and I'm a lot further along. What I've picked up mostly from spring to now is just the concept, really the offensive concepts with routes and just like where I need to be on my drops and things like that, my run-fits. I feel like I'm a lot further along with the scheme part of things."

Johnson wasn't exactly lost at the position in the spring, but after spending two seasons at fullback for the Vols, the junior certainly had room to develop as he returned to the defensive side of the ball.

His experience in high school at linebacker obviously helped, as did a relationship with Reveiz, who in some ways acted as an extra coach while rehabbing his surgically repaired knee. And though Reveiz didn't lose his starting job while on the sideline, Johnson did all he could to close the gap when he was taking the first-team reps, turning in one of the most productive springs of anybody on the roster.

And with a few more weeks under his belt back at linebacker now, Johnson is even more comfortable - and through two scrimmages actually has the only takeaway for the UT defense, a recovery of a Toney Williams fumble to go with three tackles.

"(The improvement) is noticeable," Johnson said. "It seemed like in the spring I was a lot more hesitant, too worried about making mistakes, and now I'm playing a lot more loose. I know where I need to be now. It does feel natural. The first day I got back to linebacker in the spring it felt natural, and I felt like I never really lost the instinct or anything like that. That was good.

"I'm just trying to work my way into a rotation. Anything I can get on, I've gotten myself on goal-line and stuff like that, so as long as I can get myself into some kind of role on defense, that's really what I want to do."

Just how big of a role Johnson might have in what's shaping up to be a possible six-man rotation at linebacker remains to be seen, but he's earned some playing time somewhere.

It just won't be on offense, which is no problem at all for Johnson or Vols coach Derek Dooley.

"He's got a little past experience, so it's not brand-new to him," Dooley said. "Where it's hard is like, Victor Thomas (switching between defensive tackle and center), that was tough. When you've got a little background there, you can usually pick it up pretty quick.

"(Johnson) is doing better and better, and he's going to play a big role on special teams. I think depending on who we play, especially when we play those hard-nosed, running teams, he could really help us."

That seems to already be true for Reveiz, and the benefit appears to be mutual.