Two receivers missing as team starts practice
Pearson, Williams both have issues
Tennessee coach Butch Jones said Monday that the Vols will start practice without two of their most explosive wide receivers and that he doesn’t know when either will return.
Senior Von Pearson has been out of the fold since April, indefinitely suspended from all team activities just before the Orange and White Game when he was named a suspect in a rape investigation. Pearson has not been charged, but he did not attend classes in either of Tennessee’s summer sessions.
Jones said for the first time on Monday that Pearson is suspended from the football program and from the university.
Jones would not say whether Pearson would be allowed to return to the team if he is cleared of wrongdoing.
“That’s all speculation,” Jones told reporters at his first press conference of the preseason. “Right now, nothing has changed. We’ll continue to address the situation as there are changes.”
Freshman Preston Williams will miss the start of practice as the Vols await his NCAA certification, Jones said. According to a 247Sports report, Williams has to retake a standardized test after his qualifying score was flagged.
“That will be an ongoing process with the NCAA,” Jones said. “I have no time frame for him moving forward in terms of practice.”
Pearson was the Vols’ second-leading wide receiver last year, catching 38 passes for 393 yards and a team-leading five touchdowns. Williams, a composite four-star recruit who was named a five-star by 247 Sports, was dominant at Lovejoy High School in Hamp-
ton, Georgia, catching 56 passes for 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior and grabbing 43 passes for 916 yards and 13 touchdowns before ending his season with a torn ACL.
Those losses leave the Vols scrambling for receiver depth behind senior Alton “Pig” Howard, the team’s leading receiver last year, and junior Marquez North.
“That’s one of the areas we’re concerned with,” Jones said.
To address it, the Vols will use freshman Jauan Jennings as a receiver at the start of practice, which begins today. Jones said the former Blackman High star quarterback will continue to get reps behind center, but the speedy 6-foot-4, 200-pounder’s best bet to get on the field as a freshman could be on the outside.
Freshman quarterback Quinten Dormady appeared to be ahead of Jennings after the spring battle to be junior Joshua Dobbs’ backup, and freshman Sheriron Jones joins the fray this week.
The Vols also are considering moving junior defensive back Malik Foreman to receiver, but Jones said Foreman will start the preseason in the secondary.
“He’ll be evaluated each and every day,” Jones said. “... Whatever he can do that best fits him but also helps our football team win. That will be an ongoing decision. To Malik’s credit, we met yesterday and he’s like, ‘Coach, I’ll do whatever it takes to help the football team win.’ ”
Jones believes that is the case with some of the wide receivers who are returning from injury as well, and that means the coaching staff will have to watch them closely.
Redshirt sophomore Josh Smith suffered a high ankle sprain in the Vols’ loss to Oklahoma last September and missed the rest of the season.
Redshirt junior Jason Croom tore his ACL during practice for the TaxSlayer Bowl and missed the game and spring practices. Both have been cleared for the preseason but will be monitored.
“We have to do a great job of really managing them and making sure they don’t try to do too much early,” Jones said. “Both of those individuals are very prideful. They’re going to want to compete in every single period and go there. We have to do a great job as coaches, which we will, of managing them.”