{"id":259093,"date":"2025-08-03T17:58:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T17:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/259093\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T17:58:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T17:58:14","slug":"three-thoughts-on-tennessee-footballs-offense-from-the-opening-four-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/259093\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Thoughts on Tennessee Football’s Offense From the Opening Four Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Photo via Ryan Sylvia | RTI<\/p>\n

Tennessee football\u2019s fall camp ahead of the 2025 season has now concluded its opening four practices.<\/p>\n

While there is only so much that is open to the media (typically 15-20 minutes per session), it does give us a small insight into what the team looks like. However, it\u2019s important to note that there\u2019s plenty that goes on behind closed doors that isn\u2019t accounted for.<\/p>\n

Here are three thoughts on the offense at this point.<\/p>\n

More From RTI:\u00a0Pair Of Projected Tennessee Football Starters Sidelined During Open Portions Of Sunday\u2019s Practice<\/a>
\nDon\u2019t pencil in a starting quarterback yet<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an open competition at quarterback for Tennessee this year. If you already had a signal caller penciled in, it\u2019s worth erasing and waiting for the official decision.<\/p>\n

As RTI continues to update in our practice observations<\/a>, neither of the presumed top options, Joey Aguilar or Jake Merklinger, have been perfect. There\u2019s been a good amount of impressive reps from the pair, but also a bit of undesirable throws on air.<\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t had the chance to see any quarterbacks throw against defenses, but we\u2019ve seen how they deliver the ball to receivers running routes. In the periods open to the media, which is just a glimpse of the entire practice, Merklinger has been more accurate. That doesn\u2019t mean Aguilar hasn\u2019t turned it up a notch as practices develop and defenses enter the picture, though.<\/p>\n

Head coach Josh Heupel noted what will be the deciding factors when he does make the decision. It seems like there\u2019s no leader in the clubhouse at this point, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cConstant growth. Don\u2019t make the same mistake twice,\u201d Heupel said<\/a> after the first practice. \u201cLearn from the other guys that are at the position group. I think that\u2019s important for everybody. No matter what position you\u2019re playing, there\u2019s not enough reps for everybody to get every single look, every single install. So you got to continue to learn from everything. That\u2019s all on the field. And during the course of practice, quarterbacks mastering what we\u2019re doing offensively, that\u2019s controlling run game, pass game, the checks that we have in and all forms of it. There\u2019s a lot that\u2019s on their plate. So communication, then your fundamentals, which is preceded by your eyes, and then deliver an accurate ball. So all those things are going to go into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wide receiver depth is already noticeable<\/p>\n

Tennessee is extremely thin at wide receiver. We knew that going into fall camp, and it\u2019s already showing up.<\/p>\n

With projected starter Chris Brazzell II missing time<\/a> to start the string of practices, the team was already scratching down the depth chart. On Sunday, the other projected outside receiver, Mike Matthews, missed practice<\/a>. Matthews is expected to be back sooner rather than later, though.<\/p>\n

With these two out, it left just five scholarship wide receivers to participate on Sunday. As Adam Sparks<\/a> of Knox News noted, four of the five have never played a snap of college football. The only one who has is the projected starter in the slot, Braylon Staley, who hardly got run as a true freshman a year ago.<\/p>\n

This will mean that true freshmen Travis Smith Jr. and Radarious Jackson are going to be asked to do a lot in their first years. While they certainly look primed to make early impacts, there is still some room for growth. This includes a bit of dropped balls that UT\u2019s staff is aware of and clearly working on improving.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung guys don\u2019t have time to be young,\u201d Heupel said<\/a> ahead of fall camp. \u201cIt\u2019s been one of the things that we\u2019ve talked about as a program since we got back in January. Our coaches are responsible for that. Our players are, too. The guys that are vets inside those position rooms. I really like the guys that we have inside the wide receiver room. That\u2019s athletic traits, playmaking ability, their attention to detail. Excited to see that room continue to grow throughout the course of training camp, and really through the season as young guys continue to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tight end room is stacked<\/p>\n

One way Tennessee can make up for a lack of depth at receiver and possible injuries is at tight end. Last season, Tennessee debuted 12 personnel sets that it consistently went to throughout the year.<\/p>\n

I think there is a strong possibility that that could be a big part of the offense again. With Miles Kitselman returning, he could be paired up with Ethan Davis, who is already an extremely strong route runner and pass catcher, in these two tight end looks.<\/p>\n

Behind them, there is clear talent, as well. True freshmen DaSaahn Brame and Jack Van Dorselaer have been very impressive and both carry themselves with great maturity. When you throw in returning Cole Harrison, who is banged up at the moment, it\u2019s a deep and scary room for opposing defenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, we put a lot on them through spring, through summer, they\u2019ve done a good job investing and making sure, one, just alignment, assignment, understanding what they\u2019re being asked to do has been really good,\u201d UT tight ends coach Alec Abeln said<\/a> during fall camp. \u201cObviously, through two days, you know, we\u2019ll find out more as this camp gets going, but like the way they\u2019ve prepared and what they\u2019ve done mentally to put themselves in position for a really good camp.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo via Ryan Sylvia | RTI Tennessee football\u2019s fall camp ahead of the 2025 season has now concluded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,1209,6364],"class_list":{"0":"post-259093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-tennessee-football","10":"tag-tennessee-vols"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114966135348646604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}