The Monday 3-2-1

Monday and football means the return of the weekly 3-2-1. Three observations, two questions and one prediction as the Vols are less than three weeks to kickoff against Georgia State.

1. Eric Gray will help ( a lot) — There is always buzz around freshmen in fall camp. There is plenty of buzz around linebacker Henry To’oto’o, who saw first team reps in the Vols first scrimmage of the preseason. The June enrollee has impressed with his awareness, anticipation and ability pickup on things quickly. But Henry T. isn’t the only newcomer that people are talking about. Offensively, it’s Eric Gray. The 3-time Mr. Football in the state of Tennessee has found the end zone multiple times against the Vol defense. Gray has been hard for defenders to get their hands on and has wowed with the vision, as he has shown to be able to not leave many yards out on the field.

"He’s got really good ball skills. He’s a good competitor. He jumps out there and is very mature when it comes to football playing abilities,” Pruitt said of Gray.

“We’re excited about him. I think he’s had a really good camp so far. Again, this will be a guy who has been really good in the drills, really good in practice, so we’ll see how he does when we get over to the stadium, so looking forward to seeing that.”

Sources say Gray did really well. He is definitely a guy that offensive coordinator Jim Chaney wants to get the ball. He’s arguably been the most impressive freshman according to some you talk to.

2. Year 2 is better than Year 1 —The Vol defense is young on the defensive front. To’oto’o is obviously young, but the secondary has played a lot of snaps. Daniel Bituli has played a bunch of snaps and really outside of 3-4 guys defensively those playing are in the second year of learning the system and it’s showing. They haven’t been perfect, but there have been fewer busts and guys are playing faster defensively because their understanding of the defense has given them more confidence.

3. The line of scrimmage is unsettled — It’s really no surprise that as the Vols sit 19 days to kickoff that they are unsettled as to who their best five are in the offensive trenches. They are also unsure in the defensive trenches. Offensively, it’s because there is some clear competition see left tackle, right guard, left guard (with Trey Smith not yet cleared for contact), and even to a degree at center. The competition is good and being unsettled as to who the five will be is not a bad thing.

“I think as soon as you can find your five best players and try to put them in the positions you need them at, the sooner the better. It's like anything else. You also don't want to do it so early that you're losing competition, too. We want to let this thing play out and see who the best players are. I'm interested about that. It will be good to see,” offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said when asked about how quick he needed to find his five.

Defensively, the Vols lost their only sure starter last week in Emmit Gooden who tore his ACL. Jeremy Pruitt said they aren’t moving anyone to the defensive front from a different position. The Vols are simply playing with a bunch of unproven guys up there.

“We have 11 guys out there and there’s not much difference in any of them. If you look there’s three guys that are playing defensive line that were in the program before we got here: Matthew Butler, LaTrell Bumphus, who was playing tight end, and (Ja’Qauin) Blakely. Last year Blakely played fullback and LaTrell played tight end, so they’ve not been there very long [and] all the rest of the guys are new, so there wasn’t a whole lot here when we got here. The guys that played for us last year were seniors and they did a really good job. And then Emmit (Gooden) played some last year, those were really our four best defensive linemen. The guys that are here have good ability, they just got to raise their game. They’ve got to be exposed to new things every single day, and we’ve done that with them.”

Does Tennessee get any news on Aubrey Solomon this week? Does anyone emerge as more than just one of the 11 guys out there?

1. Who’s the star? — With Baylen Buchanan on the shelf and no timetable for his return, it’s been open auditions for the nickel/star spot in Jeremy Pruitt’s defense. For the last half of last week, including Sunday’s scrimmage, it’s been Shawn Shamburger’s audition. Did he do enough to continue to get first team reps or does someone else get their chances there this week? It will be interesting to see where that competition is at week’s end when the Vols head into their second major scrimmage of the preseason.

2. Does Trey Smith take any contact? — With Smith moving back to guard where he’s most comfortable, he could, in theory not take any contact and just start against Georgia State in the opener. But Smith seemed to be moving closer to contact late last week as he did more and more in the individual drills. We even saw him get as snap at the start of an 11-on-11 period Saturday, but the Vols were only in shoulder pads. So the question is will Smith take any contact this week building towards the second scrimmage? Will they let him get some contact work to see how his body reacts before they get to game week? It’s definitely something to watch.

Roman Harrison will be the freshman who has the buzz this week. The freshman has spent the last two weeks trying to figure out how to rush the passer and tried to figure out the defense as he plays outside linebacker, which is a new position for him. Harrison has looked the part from Day 1 in terms of his physical frame and his effort has been great. It’s the biggest thing that jumped out about him in his high school tape, so that is no surprise.

Sunday in the Vols' scrimmage, Harrison flashed a fair amount as he seems to be starting to figure things out. Given his work ethic, he will be a guy that this time next week a lot more people are talking about.