Matt Simms, Tyler Bray move up on UT QB depth chart, Nick Stephens moves down

by Joel Hollingsworth on Apr 7, 2010 7:23 AM EDT in Rocky Top Talking Points

Quickie Talking Points this morning:

Chattanooga Times Free Press | Simms, Bray up on chart

Junior college transfer Matt Simms and January enrollee Tyler Bray were given nudges up the depth chart before Tuesday's practice, and rising senior Nick Stephens was bumped down from the starters to the second string.

"You have kind of a general plan of not overreacting every practice, and we haven't," Dooley said after Tuesday's return to the practice field. "But I think when you go halfway through the spring, that's a great time to do an early evaluation of where we are, and that's what we did. Then we'll probably re-evaluate it again at the end."

"We're going to keep evaluating every couple of weeks. Right now we're going to increase the reps of Matt and Tyler and back down Nick a little bit. Nick has been exclusively with the 1s, and now we're going to give Matt some more with the 1s, and give Tyler a little bit more with the 2s and maybe some with the 1s. We're going to keep varying the reps so they all get equal opportunity."
Simms' confidence going up " GoVolsXtra
"I played for (former UT quarterbacks Erik) Ainge and (Jonathan) Crompton and he's a totally different quarterback," Jones said. "He has a different demeanor about himself. His swagger is positive. He's confident in himself and he's confident in the players around him."

'Full speed' ahead for Nick Reveiz in practice " GoVolsXtra
Tennessee took a cautious approach, tried to limit his reps and kept the red jersey on the senior linebacker as long as it could. Ultimately that only amounted to half of spring, and true to his promise after suffering a torn ACL to end his season last September against Ohio, Reveiz put the orange back on Tuesday and immediately started making sure the Vols knew he had returned for full-contact work. "The first hit, we did a backs-on-backers blitz period, and I wasn't even trying to do a move," Reveiz said. "I just wanted to run over somebody. It was just awesome to get that first hit and be back out there going full speed.

Scout.com: Rae of hope
Tennessee's noteworthy end-to-tackle success stories over the past dozen years include Shane Burton, Jeff Coleman, Billy Ratliff, Edward Kendrick, Aubrayo Franklin, J. T. Mapu, Mondre Dickerson, Turk McBride, Robert Ayers and Wes Brown. Now Rae Sykes is hoping to be the latest in a long line of Vol ends to make this transition successfully. So far, so good.

Scout.com: Hot, Hot Heated Vols Tuesday practice
Dooley said the heat definitely took a toll on his players in the latter part of the workout. "Hot, so we had a little weather change and that gets tough," Dooley said. "We had a great tempo the first half of practice and then its starts getting on you, you get tired, you start finding reasons to quit and not be disciplined. We tailed off a little down the stretch and we have to work on that."

VIDEO: Dooley Comments Apr. 6 | UT Sports TV
Coach Dooley, Austin Johnson, Gerald Jones, Luke Stocker, and Rae Sykes talk after the first of four spring practices this week on April 6, 2010.

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