KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Back on the grass of Haslam Field after the second scrimmage of preseason camp and an off day, the Tennessee Volunteers kicked off their third week of practices Tuesday morning.

Running backs coach Jerry Mack has been able to grow a lot with his group in his second year at Tennessee. The group has already had to battle through some adversity with a season-ending injury to Len’Neth Whitehead before fall camp started, but they have been building every day and Mack feels that each individual in the room has the capability to make an impact on the gridiron this season.

“The biggest thing is we’re always trying to do a great job of making sure we monitor those guys during the course of the game,” Mack said, meeting with the media on Tuesday afternoon. “If a guy gets the hot hand, obviously we would potentially want to stay with him. If a guy is going into a lull, we make sure we get into a rotation. I never really go into a game saying, ‘hey, this guy’s going to play 15, 20 snaps’ or whatever it may be. It’s more about how they progress throughout the course of the game. Now, we do enter the game saying, ‘this guy’s going to basically be the one, two, three, four,’ however the depth chart hits that week depending on how they practice, obviously. But you never really know until you get into the full of the game.”

With a lot of new in the room, there is a lot of value brought from returning starter Jabari Small, who ran for a team-high 796 yards and nine touchdowns last season on 141 carries. Small made his first collegiate start in the season opener and burst on the scene in a big way, going for 117 yards and a score in a win over Bowling Green. He grew a lot over the course of last season, making 11 starts, and in Year 2, Small is looking to impart the wisdom he gained over the course of the 2021 season to a group that holds the future of the program.

“They need someone to look up to and I know how important that is,” Small said. “My freshman year, I had two older guys and that was very monumental for me. I take it seriously because when I’m gone, they’re still going to be here. Tennessee is going to be here for a long time after I’m gone, so I have to push the guys that are younger than me and try to make them better.”

For Small, a lot of the offseason was spent building his strength up to limit some of the injuries that hindered his season last year. With a proper strength program and an emphasis on fueling himself for muscle growth, Small is built to last the entire season this year.

“It was more so a lot of extra work and changing my diet,” Small continued. “I ate a lot of protein and a lot of steak. I came in even when I was not asked to put in extra work up top with my shoulder. It was a lot of extra work, but the strength and conditioning staff did a great job and put a big focus on me this offseason, and it’s paid off.”

Another key returner for the offense is tight end Princeton Fant, who enters his sixth season with the program after electing to return for his extra year of eligibility brought on by the pandemic. With so many years of experience, Fant has been able to manage the grind of fall camp while ensuring there is an enjoyment for the game he loves.

“There’s a lot of adversity coming in with camp. Lot of hard work, staying home and keeping guys first. That’s the whole thing that keeps me going through all these camps. Just understanding what’s going on both on the field and off the field, in the classroom and in the tight end room. Just teaching the younger guys and bringing the younger guys along, that’s really a big goal for us.”

“It’s definitely fun, it’s a lot of fun,” Fant said. “Camp is camp, but every day we go out there and compete with the guys and go out there and have fun with the game. That’s what it’s all about. Going out there and competition and having fun and flying around.”

Tennessee returns to the practice field again on Wednesday morning. All practices are closed to the public.

Running Backs Coach Jerry Mack

On if he thinks Jabari Small can handle 20-25 carries a game…
“I really do. One thing about Jabari that he’s done a great job, he’s added armor to his body. You look at the last game of the season, he weighed in around 199 (pounds). This year he’s been weighing in consistently between 212-215, and like that is going to help him down the road. As we get into games down the stretch, like being able to finish games is what we’ve been talking about. So, the added weight should help him a ton to try to increase his carries.  That’s one of the things we’ve been really focusing on with him in the offseason, and obviously in fall camp, just trying to make sure you understand how to finish the practice.”

On the importance of pass protection for the running backs…
“Well, it’s a big part of it. You know, we look at the entire big picture of it. Obviously, some weeks we’ll have better matchups, different matchups I should say, than other weeks. But the biggest part of it, you have to be a complete back in this offense. You got to be able to run the ball optimally when you have the chance. You got to be able to play without the ball – and that includes pass protection – so that goes into it without saying. Just being able to do all facets of the game. We want guys that are all-purpose backs that we don’t have to take off the field on third down for whatever the reason, whether we have to throw the ball, or the ball in hand, or whatever we have to protect, but we want to make sure we develop a complete back. During practice or even in the film room, one thing we always talk about, one thing we’re always looking at is how those guys go about taking care of business from a pass-pro prospective, and all the other little things they have to do.”

On how Jabari Small has improved and Jaylen Wright’s health status…
“The added strength is the arm tackles. Last year, you talk about the shoe string tackles, you talk about from a defensive lineman maybe getting a pad on a running back as he comes through the line of scrimmage. Those plays have been able to now be extended because Jabari has that added weight. You can see the different mentality. One thing about weight and strength is it changes your mindset as well. So, when you talk about down there in the red zone, short yardage, he just has a different mentality about how he’s going to go ahead and get that first down and go pad – and we talk about pad plus too – all those different things, the mindset has really changed for him with that added weight. Protection wise, you can see him now sticking his face on people. You know, we’re doing protection about two or three days out of the week because coach Heup (Heupel), coach Golesh, myself, we all want to make an emphasis of that going into the season. And now you can see he’s not scared of that contact, he wants to get his face in the fan, he wants to get in that contact.”

“When you talk about Jaylen Wright, progressing every day. Like, every day he gets a little bit better from a standpoint of he’s able to do more. Today he’s able to do a little bit more than he was a couple of days ago. So, I think I feel confident in saying that he’ll be ready by the time we enter the first game. You know, it’s a process with him and he’s going through every phase a little bit more.”

On freshman RB Justin Williams-Thomas…
“Well, the third block for him was probably his best set of practices since he’s been here. I mean, from a standpoint of him running with more confidence, we saw flashes of the Justin we saw in high school. We saw him have an explosive play in the scrimmage the other day. We saw him being able to catch the ball out of the backfield a little bit today in practice, doing some things like that. I think where he has to get better is, where all young guys usually have to get better, and that’s pass protection. More so than technique, I think we’ve done a good job of him understanding, at a minimum, where his eyes belong. He was here in the spring, so he had an opportunity to go through some of that spring, summer camp as well, and now into fall camp. I don’t have an issue of him knowing who to block, now it’s just about the mannerism and about how to actually get there. I think that’s the biggest thing for him right now, to continue to work his technique. We talk about hands inside, squeezing the elbows tight, keeping our butts to the quarterback. All those little things that they probably don’t talk to you as much (about) in high school because he was mainly the primary runner, is things he has to learn how to do playing without the ball. It’s going to be really important for him.”

On freshman RB Dylan Sampson’s game…
“He’s done a great job. He’s kind of a fan favorite right now in the building with his attitude, personality, which we knew when we recruited him. Every day he comes out there, it seems like he does something really good with the ball in his hands. Explosive plays. We talked about him being a guy that was going to have those sexy runs, those long, explosive runs, and he’s held true to form. He’s that guy that every day in practice, he’s been coming out there and he finds a way to get through those small creases. You know, he’s a smaller back but he gets to top end speed really fast. We’ve been really impressed with his natural vision and his natural patience as a runner. Obviously, the thing that he has to continue to grow in more than anything else is that physicality part of it and that’s going to come as he gets into games more, as he gets into practice and those live reps more. I like the way Dylan’s operating in our offense as well. He’s playing with that sense of urgency that we need in our offense because we play so fast.”

On Lyn-J Dixon’s health status and how he’s progressing…
“He tweaked his ankle, but he’s fine. He should probably be back with us tomorrow. Lyn-J, we just kind of keep him in doing some limited work on strength and conditioning, make sure he gets back 100 percent, but Lyn-J’s progressing fine.”

On how much playing time Dixon could get…
“You know, it’s really too early to say right now. We’re glad to have him right now. We’re happy that he’s here in the building and learning and progressing each day. The biggest thing, you know he’s 23 years old, he’s played a lot of college football. He’s had success on a high stage and at a high level. So, really just excited about him learning and progressing throughout the weeks. And I think that’s one thing, maybe commitment to making sure that he understands what to do and how to do it. We’ll see how he goes and how he learns and progresses throughout the rest of camp.”  

On handling the rotation in the back field…
“You know, we really never know. The biggest thing is we’re always trying to do a great job of making sure we monitor those guys during the course of the game. If a guy gets the hot hand, obviously we would potentially want to stay with him. If a guy is going into a lull, we make sure we get into a rotation. I never really go into a game saying, ‘hey, this guy’s going to play 15, 20 snaps’ or whatever it may be. It’s more about how they progress throughout the course of the game. Now, we do enter the game saying, ‘this guy’s going to basically be the one, two, three, four,’ however the depth chart hits that week depending on how they practice, obviously. But you never really know until you get into the full of the game. I will tell you this, Jabari (Small) has done a good job of trying to get his body right so that he can finish games more than anything else.”

On how Jabari Small’s intentional weight gain was initiated…
“I think it was mutual. I think he saw what he needed to do to get better as a player. Obviously, our strength and conditioning staff and our nutritionist saw things that he could improve in with his eating habits and his weight room habits, so I think it was a mutual feeling. I mean, Jabari knew that he should’ve been a 1,000-yard back at the end of the year last year. He would’ve been able to play in all those games and do what he’s supposed to do. There’s no reason that he couldn’t be one of the elite players in the SEC, but he knew he was going to have to get better. One of the things that you talk to the guys about at the end of the spring or at the end of the season is, ‘what do I need to do in the offseason to get better?’ And that was the primary thing for him. The second, probably making sure that from a protection standpoint he got in the film room and understood what we were trying to do in each protection.”

On if they need to identify a third-down back…
“I don’t think so. I think all those guys have a really unique skillset. I think all of them are getting better from a pass protection standpoint and we try to do a great job of recruiting guys that can be all-purpose backs, not just guys that are big, strong guys on third and short, but also guys that can catch the ball out of the backfield, as well. So, I really would like to build up the entire back and complete back. I don’t want to just pinpoint a guy or pigeonhole a guy that he’s just a third-down back or that he’s just a goal line back. They all need to have the mindset that they can do it all.”

On confidence in the running back group as pass catchers…
“I think some are better than others right now. Obviously, we’ve got some room, and everybody has a different skillset and everybody can have some improvement in different areas. Right now, that’s what we’re developing. After practice, before practice, on the jugs machine – we make sure that everybody gets a certain amount of catches each and every day.”

On if there’s a player preference in short yardage situations…
“With the way we play and the tempo that we play at, sometimes you would love to get a guy in there that has a little bit more power or a stouter back that can push the pile forward. But sometimes with the way we play, that’s not going to always be the case. The difference is that sometimes the defense isn’t in quite aligned. So now you’re talking about, you don’t have to have that big physical back that traditionally offenses have had in the past. The biggest thing we look for is just the tempo through the mesh. How fast and how violent a guy’s going to hit it. Jabari (Small) last year, like I said he was only 199 to 200 pounds, but he probably was our most physical back through the mesh. There were several occasions last year where he pushed the pile forward where he was able to keep his feet driving on contact and still get that yardage that we needed. So, just because he was a smaller back, he played big, and that’s really the biggest thing more than anything, even if you are a smaller back.”

On evaluating players based on yards after contact…
“A ton. You hear me use the phrase and you hear coach (Alex) Golesh and coach (Josh) Heupel use the phrase, ‘pad plus two’. That means yards after contact, minimum of at least two yards we’re going to always to be able to get. That’s one thing with the weight that Jabari and the strength that Jabari has put on. That’s what has allowed him to be a much better version back of himself from last year. He’s doing some things, and all of them too – we saw from Jaylen Wright in the spring – one thing we made an emphasis on is him running behind his pads, being more physical, having the ability to reduce. That means having the ability to get your pads down, play behind your pads and then still go forward even after contact. So, it’s something that we’re always looking at in the room. We’re always charting, our many graduate assistants, our quality control people, we’re always charting exactly how many yards these guys are getting after contact.”

On what it takes to get young players up to speed during camp…
“I think the ball mechanic piece for us is truly important. How fast the guy can get his eyes back to the sideline and how fast he can process the information. It’s not just about being a smart football player, it’s about being able to process information fast, as well, because when those signals come in from the sideline you’ve got to be able to get your cleats in the ground. You’ve got to be able to execute at the highest level while still playing with the fundamentals. So, some of those things from a standpoint of just understanding plays wise, like what those guys are supposed to do. One great thing and the luxury that we have, is that all of those guys were able to be here the first and second session of summer school. So, they got a dose of the installation in the summer school session and now they’re basically getting a repeat of the installation now at fall camp, which has allowed them to really understand the system. We always tell them, ‘if you don’t understand the plays when we go into fall camp, it’s going to be very hard for you to get on the field and very hard for you to play at the level we need you to play at’. So that’s what those young guys – Justin (Williams-Thomas) was here at the end of January, Dylan (Sampson) came in May, and it’s kind of fish-to-water right now. The guys have been really playing fast, really playing hard. We spent a little time talking about what you’re supposed to do and now we can really get into the nuts and bolts and fundamental piece and smaller details of what they’ve got to do.”

Junior RB Jabari Small

On how he put on weight in the offseason…
“It was more so a lot of extra work and changing my diet. I ate a lot of protein and a lot of steak. I came in even when I was not asked to put in extra work up top with my shoulder. It was a lot of extra work, but the strength and conditioning staff did a great job and put a big focus on me this offseason, and it’s paid off.”
 
On how he has adjusted to becoming a leader on the team…
“I had to take those guys along. They need someone to look up to, and I know how important that is. My freshman year, I had two older guys and that was very monumental for me. I take it seriously because when I’m gone, they’re still going to be here. Tennessee is going to be here for a long time after I’m gone, so I have to push the guys that are younger than me and try to make them better.”
 
On coach Heupel pairing together fun with football…
“Coming into the facility this fall camp in general, the environment is very good. I come with a smile on my face every day. It’s a grind but I wake up and I’m like, ‘I get to play football with my guys and see my coaches and teammates.’ It’s fun. Coach Heupel does a great job with this culture. On and off the field, it’s just fun to compete.”

RS-Senior TE Princeton Fant

On managing fall camp as a veteran…
“There’s a lot of adversity coming in with camp. Lot of hard work, staying home and keeping guys first. That’s the whole thing that keeps me going through all these camps. Just understanding what’s going on on the field and off the field, in the classroom and in the tight end room. Just teaching the younger guys and bringing the younger guys along, that’s really a big goal for us.”
 
On difference in this fall camp compared to last season…
“It’s definitely fun, it’s a lot of fun. Camp is camp, but every day we go out there and compete with the guys and go out there and have fun with the game. That’s what it’s all about. Going out there and competition and having fun and flying around.”
 
On how his route running has improved…
“I definitely feel like I’ve grown in that area. In high school I was a receiver. Just coming here, learning what the coaches are coaching you up on. Trusting your coaches and trusting the process on that. I feel like the route running has definitely gotten smoother and cleaner.”

-UT Athletics