Young Offensive Skill Players Pushing Competition During First Week of Spring

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A strong emphasis on Tennessee football's signing class was bringing in young, talented offensive skill players and that group is making its mark through three spring practices. The Volunteers donned shoulder pads for the first time this week in a 22-period practice on Thursday at Haslam Field.

Highly-touted true freshmen wide receivers Braylon Staley (Aiken, South Carolina) and Mike Matthews (Lilburn, Georgia) have flashed with Staley playing in the slot and learning from veteran Squirrel White, who led the squad with 67 catches for 803 yards last fall.

"We have a lot of talented young players," said second-year offensive coordinator Joey Halzle. "You have to cut it loose. You can't make mistakes half speed, or we can't gain anything from it. So, that's been our huge coaching point at every position, but we have a lot of young, talented wideouts. The competition is awesome. It's one of the best I've seen in spring ball. There's not a lot of solidified guys going. It's everybody going out there fighting for a spot."

True freshman quarterback Jake Merklinger, who participated in Citrus Bowl practices, has illustrated his athleticism and is backing up Nico Iamaleava and Gaston Moore.

"Really athletic guy," Halzle said of the four-star prospect Merklinger. "High, high intelligence. Guys love him already. He's one of the guys that just kind of fits right in and gets into the mold. Picked it up really, really quickly, which was great to see from us."

Merklinger and the quarterbacks took in a surprise on Wednesday night. Pro Football Hall of Famer and VFL legend Peyton Manning addressed the team and then spent the evening in the quarterback film room. Manning was on campus for his UT College of Communication and Information class.

"It's Peyton Manning, there's not much more to say on that one," Halzle said. "When he talks, everybody really listens. He was just giving guys a bunch of great nuggets as far as the way he prepared, the way he went about his business, what his daily routine or weekly routine was. Guys were taking pages of notes on it, so I think it's going to be something that's crazy beneficial for those guys."

Tennessee is hosting its annual Coaches Clinic for high school and middle school staffers on Friday with former NFL head coach Rex Ryan serving as the keynote speaker.

The Vols will hold their first full pads practice on Saturday to wrap up week one of spring ball.

Tennessee Football Press Conference | March 21, 2024
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Joey Halzle

On the emphasis for QB Nico Iamaleava this spring…
"Physically, we've been working a bunch on just refining his body, getting himself in great body positions. He's so athletic that sometimes he's able to get away with being in bad body position, so we've been really critiquing and hard on ourselves as far as, 'alright, yeah you can make that throw, but are you in the best possible position you could get in in this moment.' Then, adding weight and strength on to him has been great. He's committed to that. He's doing a great job there. Then, on the mental side of it is making the shift from knowing the plays, knowing your protections, to understanding why we are calling these plays in certain situations. What are we trying to accomplish when we use this motion or this formation? It's fun to watch him dig into that and really become a quarterback as opposed to just a talented young player."

On his early impressions of QB Jake Merklinger…
"Really athletic guy. High, high intelligence. Guys love him already. He's one of the guys that just kind of fits right in and gets into the mold. Picked it up really, really quickly, which was great to see from us. A lot of times with young guys, you think you know going through the recruiting process, but until you get him in there, you get him in the room, you start working on him and seeing him take it to the field. He's going out there and calling his protections correctly, calling the plays, getting us in the right plays and right checks. It's been good to watch him do that, it's impressive for the young guy."

On his impressions of OL Lance Heard…
"Lance, when you look at him physically, really big guy. He can move really well. All the athletic traits are there that you want. All the physical traits are there that you want. Smart kid, picking things up quickly. It's for him, transitioning to playing with tempo and understanding the way we play. That's always what it is whenever a guy comes in, no matter how much experience they have at another university. Transitioning to the way we play just takes a little bit. He's pushing through it and he's doing a good job."

On the new additions to the wide receiver group and the competition at the position…
"We have a lot of talented young players, similar to the last question, a lot of it is just learning how to play the way we play. Playing with speed, playing with tempo and not letting that slow you down on the backend where you're trying to figure out what to do. That's been the challenge for all the young position players is while you're going out there and trying to figure it out, cut it loose. You have to cut it loose. You can't make mistakes half speed, or we can't gain anything from it. So, that's been our huge coaching point at every position, but we have a lot of young, talented wideouts. The competition is awesome. It's one of the best I've seen in spring ball. There's not a lot of solidified guys going. It's everybody going out there fighting for a spot. So, rep after rep after rep, you're getting everything from somebody. Nobody is pulling back, thinking like, 'ah, I kind of got this spot I can take a couple of reps off.' Everybody is fighting to get on the field, which does nothing but increase the level of play on the field."

On how Nico Iamaleava is taking on a leadership role…
"He's one of those guys that has that natural aura about him where people gravitate to him and listen to what he says. It's a little bit outside of his comfort zone to try to step out and get on somebody, which isn't really his makeup, which is fine. There is not one way to do it. When he talks, guys listen. That's the best compliment you can say about somebody. When you talk, the guys stop talking and listen to what he has to say. We have a lot of talented guys; they just haven't played football together. Whether they're young, transfers or have been in the program, it's a lot of guys trying to make their first push onto that field. You see a lot of them trying to get on the same page like, 'How did you see that? This is how I saw it. Let's make sure we're doing this next time.' That's a big part of all of those conversations we're seeing."

On if the freshmen skill players usually go through stages during spring practice…
"It's probably different from guy to guy, but overall you would say a lot of times the first couple of days in spring can almost lull guys to sleep. The installs are very light, the looks they're seeing on the back end aren't super exotic yet and they start feeling like, 'Okay, I figured this college thing out.' Then you get into that second block of work, and now here comes all of the other stuff and they're like, 'I've never seen a safety do that stuff before, and where's that pressure coming from?' Maybe guys kind of take a step back and say, 'Oh wait, maybe I don't have it figured out.' That's been the push coming from me and from our whole staff is that you can never get lulled to sleep by one good practice. By one, I didn't have any busts today, I didn't have any missed assignments. Every day you have to reset and attack it like it's the first time you're going over it, because as much as you think you have it figured out, you don't. Third-year guys don't have it figured out. You're still pushing to get that last little bit of knowledge that gives you something to make the play on the field. I think it goes from, 'I feel super confident' to 'Maybe I don't have this quite as much as I did' to as you're leaving spring, you should start having that feeling again which will carry over into the summer work and fall camp."

On Nico Iamaleava growing in his leadership role…
"He's been more willing. Not that he was in a shadow last year, but with Joe (Milton III) coming in, he always wanted to be really respectful and not try to step out and overtake him in any step. He's been more willing to step out and be like, 'I got this.' Sometimes you'll go to say something to a wideout, tight end or running back and he'll just grab them first and take them. For him, it's never super boisterous, loud or overly aggressive. It's just him getting the information across. When he talks, guys listen. He doesn't have to grab facemasks or scream. Guys want to hear what he has to say because they respect the work that he's put in."

On what it's like for the current players to hear from prominent VFLs...
"They love it. For Joe (Milton III), he's everybody's friend, so everyone was just happy to see him again. And then the stuff that he's bringing, he just falls right back into his old self. He's helping coach up the young guys during individual about what he's seeing with their footwork. Then you get a guy like Peyton Manning coming in to talk to the guys last night. Then [he] met with the quarterbacks separately on his own. It's Peyton Manning, there's not much more to say on that one. When he talks, everybody really listens. He was just giving guys a bunch of great nuggets as far as the way he prepared, the way he went about his business, what his daily routine or weekly routine was. Guys were taking pages of notes on it, so I think it's going to be something that's crazy beneficial for those guys."

On what he's seen from tight end Holden Staes...
"Holden, you see him when he takes the field, he looks right. He's a good-sized kid, he runs well, he's picked up the offense quickly. It's just like I said in the question about Lance, the young wide outs, like Jake Merklinger. We're just different from what he's used to in the past. Him getting into the way we play, seeing the signals, getting lined up, snapping down, all that type of stuff - he's doing a good job of it. That's just his push right now. He knows what the plays are. He knows what to do. He's got the talent. So now it's just figuring out the way we play. Not what the play is, but 'how am I supposed to play within this offense?'"

On what he learned over the last year as an offensive coordinator...
"I think, like anything, as you keep doing stuff more and more, you get better at it. That's why there's no substitution for experience. For me personally, it was making a commitment to 'alright, how are we going to react in different situations?' versus specific looks that we're anticipating that we saw last year that we think can carry over, and using this off-season to say 'alright, if we get this, this is what we're going to do.' Prepping our guys and all that type of situational stuff. Like, 'why are we doing these plays? This isn't our base stuff?' 'Well, we're doing this for when eventually this shows up, you guys are going to know how to respond to it.' So, it's been a lot of situational work and a lot of specific defensive structure look that we anticipate seeing in the future."

On running backs coach De'Rail Sims...
"First of all, he's just a great dude. He's a great guy in the office. He has awesome energy. Everybody liked him - starting day one - everyone liked that guy. He's awesome, his football knowledge is through the roof. You wouldn't know that this is his first spring ball with us. He's out there, there's not like, 'Hey, make sure the backs know this.' He's got it dialed in. Protectionally, run game, all the stuff. That dude - he's a ball coach through and through. He knows football. Definition to me of a home run hire. That guy was a big-time addition."

Freshman WR Braylon Staley

On the past few days of spring practice and the value of early enrollment…
"The early enrollee part of it was amazing. To get in and learn from the older guys, getting in and learning the playbook early. It was great just to do that, and then the couple days of spring ball have been awesome, competing against the veterans–the ones. I'm looking up to Squirrel White, so it's just amazing playing behind him."

On his favorite part of being on this Tennessee team…
"The family bond, everybody is really brothers for real. On the field we compete and yap at each other, but in the locker room it's close, so that's really what I love."

On what he does well as a wide receiver…
"I can play with speed. Right now, I'm trying to get used to just the pace of this offense–the tempo. I'm trying to get used to playing with my speed because I know I can run fast. I have great hands, and I can run routes, so I'm just working on getting out of my breaks faster.

Freshman QB Jake Merklinger

On what advice he received from Peyton Manning and Joe Milton III in the past 24 hours…
"That was super cool to see such a Tennessee legend like Peyton Manning. It was really cool to just hear from him, hear how he played the game and his advice to us. Getting to see Joe again was really cool. I got to be with Joe a little bit during bowl practice. Just to see those guys, it was super cool."

On what he thinks draws quarterbacks to Tennessee…
"To start off with Coach Heupel, he played the position at a super high level and was a Heisman finalist. His relationship with Coach Halzle and then going down the line with Mitch Militello, McKenzie Milton, and even more guys. Just the coaching staff and how experienced they are with quarterbacks."

On becoming acclimated to the tempo of Tennessee's offense…
"Yes, it definitely (feels fast) when you first get in it. It does feel like it is going a thousand miles an hour, but that just goes back to being able to stay calm and taking advice from the coaches. They help me a lot with being able to slow down my mind and see things."

Freshman OL Gage Ginther

On adjusting to Tennessee's fast tempo offense…
"Once I got on the team, it really changed. It's much faster than I thought, but everything has to be perfect in between whistle to whistle. Once that whistle blows and the ball gets set, you have to be there. There are no false steps. During that even, it is like the game never stops. Some teams stop and huddle. With us, that part is part of the game, it's part of the play and you have to get going. It's much different from high school, but I'll adapt very fast, and I'm not too worried about the tempo."

On why he chose Tennessee…
"The big thing for me, I have always wanted to play in the SEC. It's the best conference in college football. Especially being out West in Colorado, I didn't get much SEC attention, so once I got that Tennessee offer, I knew this was where I had to go. I committed fast. The coaching staff, they are all tight and great people. They have been real since I got here. Nothing changed from recruitment. I am just thankful for them and that is a big reason I came, the coaching staff and the SEC."

On what it takes for an offensive lineman to be versatile, especially in the SEC…
"Really just my size is a big thing, because I am kind of at the height and once my weight is up, I can do it all I guess. I am at a perfect height to do it. I also played guard in high school. I played tackle on both sides, and I can snap, so I have kind of prepared myself to be in that spot because I think that will give me the best opportunity to play fast."

Freshman WR Mike Matthews

On his emotions starting spring ball...
"It's been a big transition from high school to college, but I'm glad I got here early. It's been a lot of hard work, being put through a lot of time with the meetings and stuff like that. Everything has been really good, and I've been adjusting really well."

On how his relationship with Braylon Staley has helped his transition...
"Yeah, me and Braylon are like this. I pretty much talk to him everyday. We're always in meetings together and always putting extra work in together. It's really helped me, having somebody else being in my shoes."

On the competition among wide receivers...
"I would say that it's a good mix of both [competitive and uplifting]. It's definitely very intense, but everybody wants everybody to be good, because we want to be good as a receiver group. It's pretty much everybody pushes everybody, but there's also no slacking going on. It's pretty much a good mix of both worlds."

Young Offensive Skill Players Pushing Competition During First Week of Spring

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Gage Ginther

Lance Heard

Nico Iamaleava

Mike Matthews

Jake Merklinger

Joe Milton III

Gaston Moore

Holden Staes

Braylon Staley

Squirrel White

University of Tennessee Athletics