Spring football came to a close on Saturday as Tennessee Football went through its Orange and White game. White took the game 17-14, but the contest was offense versus defense. 

The crowd on hand was the sixth-largest for a Tennessee spring game. 58,473 people were on hand for the Orange and White game. 

“What a beautiful day inside of Neyland Stadium,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said. “A huge day for the future of our program… Unbelievable turnout from our fanbase, absolute best in the country.”

Here are three takeaways from Tennessee’s spring game. 

DeSean Bishop leads running backs 

Bishop stole the show on Saturday from the backfield. With four of Tennessee’s wide receivers out of the game, the backs got a lot of work. 

The freshman from Knoxville finished the day with 88 yards on 24 carries. The workhorse mentality he had in high school carried over into Neyland Stadium on Saturday.

“DeSean Bishop, for a freshman that is coming on campus, should be going to his prom here in the next week or the following week,” Heupel said. “Maybe he is, too. I don’t know that. He is local enough. He has been really good, man. He has got great vision and got great pace. He has handled spring ball as a newcomer extremely well.”

Cam Seldon also had a solid day for the Vols in the backfield. The freshman came into Tenessee as a wide receiver, but he quickly found a home in the backfield for Tennessee. 

“He’s never really had a true home,” Heupel said. “We felt like it was important to give him a home here early and grow and expand from that. He’s been really good from what he’s done inside the running back room. He cares, he competes really hard.”

Seldon’s day was highlighted by a 24-yard touchdown run. He showcased his top speed on the run. 

“I saw grass, so I just took it,” Seldon said. “I just made a full-speed decision like coach told me to do.”

Seldon also added three receptions for 43 yards to his day. 

Gaston Moore impresses at quarterback 

Moore was the most impressive quarterback, statistics wise on Saturday. Moore finished the day with two touchdown passes and 94 yards.

“For a guy that has been in our system now maybe three years, this is the most work that he has been able to get,” Heupel said. “Just because of where the depth chart has been as he got here on campus and quarterback competitions. We saw him grow during the course of spring ball.”

Moore went 8-for-11 passing on Saturday. It is worth noting, though, that most of his work came against the third-string defense. 

Joe Milton also threw for a touchdown on Saturday. He had 79 yards on 9-for-13 passing. Freshman Nico Iamaleava was the only quarterback not to have a touchdown on Saturday. He finished the day with 112 yards on 8-for-16 passing. 

“I kind of go every day as I was last year, just preparing and getting ready,” Milton said. “Because you never know where your time is called… And now, I get more reps when I get to talk to Nico and the rest of the quarterback room, Gaston and Navy. I get more reps of the mental aspect of it.”

“Not real football” 

The spring game was an excellent way to see the newcomers, but it was a glorified scrimmage. While overreaction is expected with the first showing of Heupel’s 2023 team, there is a long way to go until fall. 

“Well, it’s not real football at the end of the day,” Heupel said. “The defense would say the same thing, too, right? Those guys do a great job of trying to pull off and make sure we’re not putting the quarterback in a susceptible position where they get a hand that goes into the helmet. So it works and cuts both ways.”

Touch sacks ruled the day on Saturday, and the quarterbacks were not live on the run. The defense had six sacks combined between Orange and White. 

The sacks amounted for negative 41 yards. The Vols also had a lot of presumptive starters sidelined, making it hard to gauge what the team will look like in the fall. 

All in all, the spring game gave us a solid look at the Vols’ newcomers. 

“It’s not real,” Milton said. “I understand guys may put a hand on you and it may look like a clean sack play. These days of football, you break out of those sacks. I feel like it’s pretty bad.”