Due to injuries, Tennessee leaned on its freshmen running backs in the spring.

That experience is seemingly paying off three weeks into fall camp.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Cameron Seldon—who arrived as an early enrollee in January—picked up valuable reps and flashed his big-play ability in the spring game with a 24-yard touchdown run while 6-foot-1, 230-pound newcomer Khalifa Keith already looks the part of an SEC back physically.

With fellow freshman DeSean Bishop out for extended period of time with an injury, Seldon and Keith continued to make the most of their opportunities in Tennessee's second scrimmage of fall camp inside Neyland Stadium on Wednesday.

"We'll know more as we go back and watch (the film) with all the bodies and moving parts up front," head coach Josh Heupel said. "I thought, at times, we were really efficient and effective. There's some things that are unique within our run game that I thought our guys handled really well. Some of that in our pull schemes. I thought the backs did a really good job of pressing, making cuts—some of that coming out of the back door. We managed the load of the guys that you've seen play a lot of football here. The young backs got a lot of work today.

"I thought they handled and operated better than they did in the first scrimmage as they continue to get comfortable with how we play."

WATCH ON VOLREPORT: Josh Heupel recaps Tennessee football's second scrimmage of fall camp

Though the coaching staff is working out the rotation between the freshmen, the room returns plenty of experience at the top in Jabari Small, Jaylen Wright and Dylan Sampson.

Small and Wright led in touchdowns and rushing, respectively last season. Heupel cited Wright's standout performance in the first scrimmage, including the run he broke off late and after being limited in the spring and using the offseason to work back to full health, he is expected to take a bigger jump after rushing for 875 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2022.

"(Wright) has been healthy throughout the course of training camp," Heupel said. "His body is dramatically different. He's one of the guys that we recognized as we started training camp, just for what he had done in the offseason and the changes that he continued to make to his body. He's been very intentional in his work, he's continued to grow and be able to have a championship mindset, be able to reset from play to play...

"Been great with the young backs. He's been a great leaders, a great teacher for those guys. He's been into it even when he's not the guy getting the reps."

Wright's approach has changed on the field, too.

Where he once relied on just his speed, Wright is beginning to see the field like a seasoned back, using that vision to hit holes and find space.

WATCH ON VOLREPORT: Tennessee football holds second scrimmage of fall camp

"On the football side of it, he's a guy that early in his career, just wanted to run around everything and just use his speed to his advantage," Heupel said. "That kind of how he developed as a young back in high school. He can still do all those things, but he's got really good vision. He understands blockers. He understands how to use them.

"He finds space. His vision on the backdoor cuts has grown and he's doing it at the right time. He's playing at a really high level."

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