By Vince Ferrara / @VinceSports

Below are my observations from the University of Tennessee’s first spring practice of 2019 at Haslam Field in Knoxville on Thursday.

There are plenty of changes to the UT football roster with position moves, jersey number changes and updated heights/weights. I’ve listed all of those here as well.

Vince’s View – Practice 1

Notables out due to injury or precaution:
OL – Trey Smith
OL – Brandon Kennedy
OL – Chris Akporoghene
DL – Kurott Garland
LB – Darrin Kirkland Jr.
RB – Eric Gray
DB – Tyus Fields
*Pruitt did not address Trey Smith’s status
*Kennedy is just being held back as a precaution and would have been able to play a game
*Pruitt said Akporoghene, Fields and Garland should be back soon
*Pruitt said Peterson is banged-up and should be back soon, but he was in some drills while we had viewing
*There were coaches everywhere with the Coaches’ Clinic at UT
*The drills we were able to view in our three periods looked crisp, organized and energetic
*Jr. S Theo Jackson impressed me by how vocal he was at calling out formations and communicating with his teammates
*You can see the work done in the off-season in the strength and conditioning program, especially year two for many of the players
*It was good to see OL Trey Smith at practice with his jersey on, encouraging his teammates, focused on watching every practice rep and trying to learn any way he can
*OT Wanya Morris, not surprisingly, is a massive guy who went through his drills with physicality
*Some of the injured players that ended their football careers this off-season were out supporting their former teammates at practice including former OL Chance Hall
*There were some recruits at practice as well
*Pruitt says, due to lack of numbers, true freshman Quavaris Crouch is starting out practicing at inside linebacker after it was previously said he would play at outside linebacker, which I think will still eventually happen
*Pruitt said Banks and Fant will be re-evaluated by Jim Chaney and David Johnson after 6-to-8 practices to see if they will stay there at RB

Roster Updates

New Positions
Jeremy Banks- LB to RB
Maleik Gray – WR to DB
Deangelo Gibbs – DB to WR
LaTrell Bumphus – TE to DL
Ja’Quain Blakely – TE to DL
Kivon Bennett – DL to LB
*A number of these players are moving back to positions they were once at

2019 Class & Transfer Jersey Numbers
WR – Deangelo Gibbs – 6
DL – Aubrey Solomon – 98
QB – Brian Maurer – 18
RB – Eric Gray – 3
WR – Ramel Keyton – 80
TE – Jackson Lowe – 82
OL – Wanya Morris – 64
OL – Chris Akporoghene – 77
LB – Quavaris Crouch – 27
S – Jaylen McCullough – 22
CB – Tyus Fields – 17
CB – Warren Burrell – 14

New Numbers
RB – Ty Chandler – 3 to 8
RB – Tim Jordan – 22 to 9
RB – Jeremy Banks – 31 to 33
RB – Princeton Fant – 18 to 44
OL – Jahmir Johnson – 72 to 58
OL – Brandon Kennedy – 59 to 55
DL – Matthew Butler – 56 to 94
DL – John Mincey – 59 to 99
DL – Kingston Harris – 51 to 54
DL – Greg Emerson – 64 to 90
LB – JJ Peterson – 40 to 6
CB – Bryce Thompson – 10 to 20
CB – Alontae Taylor – 6 to 2
DB – Shawn Shamburger – 15 to 12
DB – Cheyenne Labruzza – 9 to 44
PK – Brent Cimaglia – 30 to 42

Not On The Roster Via Transfer Portal
WR – Latrell Wiliams
OT – Drew Richmond
LB – Austin Smith

Noteworthy Weight Gains From 2018 (lbs)
OL – Nathan Niehaus (+40 in past year per Pruitt…+17 per rosters)
OL – Marcus Tatum (+25 or 30 in past year per Pruitt…+15 per rosters)
OL – Riley Locklear (+25 or 30 in past year per Pruitt…-2 per rosters)
DL – Kurott Garland (+28)
DL – Ja’Quain Blakely (+23)
OL – Trey Smith (+17)
LB – Deandre Johnson (+17)
DL – John Mincey (+16)
P/K – Paxton Brooks (16)
OT – Marcus Tatum (+15)
P – Joe Doyle (+13) *walk-on
TE – Jacob Warren (+12)
DL – Shanon Reid (+12)
LB – Quavaris Crouch (+12)
OL – Ryan Johnson (+11)
DL – Matthew Butler (+9)
DL – Aubrey Solomon (+9)
LB – Solon Page II (+9)
QB – Brian Maurer (+8)
RB – Princeton Fant (+8)
DL – Darrell Taylor (+8)
DB – Warren Burrell (+8)

Noteworthy Weight Dropped From 2018 (lbs)
OL – Jahmir Johnson (-15)
DL – Kivon Bennett (-15)
DB – Brandon Davis (-13)
LB – Will Ignont (-10)
LB – Darrin Kirkland Jr. (-9)
OL – Eric Crosby (-8)

Height Changes Of Newcomers From When Introduced At UT
WR – Ramel Keyton (was listed at 6’3, now shown at 6’2)
TE – Jackson Lowe (was listed at 6’5, now at 6’4)
OL – Wanya Morris (was listed at 6’6, now 6’4)
OL – Chris Akporoghene (was listed at 6’5, now 6’3)
LB – Quavaris Crouch (was listed at 6’2, now 6’1)
DL – Aubrey Solomon (was listed at 6’3, now 6’5)

Find more of my broadcasting work at VinceSports.net.