‘Don’t worry about it’ – Former Vol sends message to Tennessee fans about the big concern from spring practice
The Tennessee Vols, like most programs this time of year, have had some ups and downs during spring practice. The Vols’ offense, specifically, has lagged behind the defense a bit as the Vols’ quarterback competition continues.
Believe it or not, spring practice is already nearing its end for the Tennessee Vols.
Tennessee will hold its spring game on April 11 — a week from today — which will signal the end of spring practice.
So far, it’s been a productive spring for the Volunteers. Most of the attention has focused on Tennessee’s quarterback competition and the progress of the defense under new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
Unsurprisingly, the defense has been ahead of the offense a bit. That’s not exactly a surprise — defenses are usually ahead this time of year — but that hasn’t stopped some folks from expressing concern about the Vols’ offense heading into the summer months.
Former Vols offensive lineman sends message to Tennessee fans
Former Vols offensive lineman Ollie Lane, who played at UT under Jeremy Pruitt and Josh Heupel, appeared on The Sports Source this week, and he had a message for the fans who are concerned about the offense.
“The one thing I will say, though, in my six years of experience playing at UT [is that] as an offense, you don’t typically win those scrimmages,” said Lane. “It never feels like you win those scrimmages. You might feel like you had a good scrimmage, but overall, there’s so many moving parts in our offense. Especially in spring with new quarterbacks — it’s hard to get all of those pieces working 100 percent of the time.
“There are going to be some mishaps. And a lot of the comments that you’re going to hear [out of] a lot of scrimmages are, ‘Well, the defense looked really good.’ I don’t want fans to take that into perspective and think, ‘Well, our offense is down.’ It’s not going to be. Don’t worry about it. These quarterbacks are gonna come along. Everything’s going to start clicking at some point. Typically, your defense does just run those scrimmages. That’s how those things roll.”
There are usually some overreactions in spring (remember the Tristen Keys debacle from last month), but it’s important to remember that this is the time of year when mistakes are welcomed (as long as players learn from them).
No one is winning a championship in March and April. The work put in during spring practices matters a lot, but Tennessee’s offense will continue to improve as the season draws closer. What we’ve seen this spring is far from the version of Tennessee football that we’ll see this fall.
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