Tennessee practiced for the 13th time during fall training camp on Friday at Haslam Field.
Third-year running backs coach Jerry Mack met with media following practice.
Mack discussed his early impressions of freshman running back Khalifa Keith.
“Big, strong, powerful guy,” Mack said. “He is everything that, when we recruited him, we thought he could be. He came in about 225 or 230 (pounds). He has continued to maintain about that body weight, and he can move with it and make plays with it. One thing about him, he does have really good hands. He was a former basketball player in high school, too, really athletic.
“His deal is really just learning our system and how we go about doing things here at Tennessee. I think as a player, you are going to see that guy involved in a lot of special teams this year. Coach (Ekeler) is extremely excited about his role and what he can be. As a runner, he is a lot further along than I really even anticipated right now. Running between the tackles, people do not want to come up and tackle him too much. He just has to continue to learn, to play his way into shape more than anything else. He is going to contribute this year for us in some kind of capacity.”
The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Keith enrolled at Tennessee in June. He is from Parker High School in Birmingham, Alabama.
PHOTOS: Tennessee running backs through the years
