Tennessee defensive lineman Jakob Johnson (44) sings Rocky Top with the team after the Vols' season-opener football victory against the Aggies on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014, at Neyland Stadium.KNOXVILLE -- Jakob Johnson's first career start for Tennessee seemed to go the way first starts typically do for freshman football players.
There was a mix of good and bad for the inexperienced linebacker.
Either way, though, the player the Volunteers used to replace suspended All-SEC A.J. Johnson in the loss to Missouri on Saturday night should be able to build on his first taste of significant action.
"Jakob did a very, very good job from a mental standpoint of getting us lined up, setting the front the right way, setting the schemes the right way," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said Monday. "He did a very, very good job, really a remarkable job, when you look at here's a young man that's a true freshman (who) hasn't had much live game opportunities.
"We missed some productivity from a tackle standpoint from our Mike linebacker position, and I think that's just youth, that's experience of understanding schemes and where the ball is going."
The German-born 6-foot-4, 240-pounder recorded just three tackles -- A.J. Johnson was averaging more than 10 stops per game -- but seemed to avoid anything in the way of glaring missed assignments or mistakes, and it appears he played well enough to maintain his spot with Johnson's suspension likely to continue through Saturday's game at Vanderbilt.
Fellow linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin handled more of the communication with A.J. Johnson out of the lineup, and the sophomore believes Jakob Johnson, who only handled mop-up duty late in Tennessee's blowout wins against UT-Chattanooga and Kentucky, will benefit from his first meaningful action.
"It's definitely going to be great for him," Reeves-Maybin said, "just knowing what it feels to play a whole game, knowing what your body feels like, knowing with how to deal each type of player. It's definitely going to be big for him to review that film. Now he'll be comfortable, so I look to see him step it up even more this week."
No 'dialogue'
The investigation into the rape and sexual assault allegations against A.J. Johnson and cornerback Michael Williams is into its second week now, and it's unclear when police may hand the case over to the district attorney's office, which will determine if charges need to be filed and what those charges may be.
Jones was asked if he's maintained any communication with the two suspended defenders.
"I have not had any dialogue at all," he said. "We're letting the investigation take care of itself. That's all I'll say."
Upon further review
The offside call that negated Tennessee's recovery of a late onside kick against the Tigers appeared to be very close, and Jones said it was among the plays the Vols submitted to the SEC office for review, a common procedure across the league.
"We have not received a ruling back, because today's the day that you submit all that," he said. "We haven't heard anything back. It was close. It was a bang-bang play. You just hate (that) it's very unfortunate that a game like that comes down to that, but it is what is.
"We put ourselves in that situation, but I thought our players, for the most part, did a very good job of executing it."
Jones challenged the second onside kick to see if Justin Coleman caught the ball after it had gone the required 10 yards, and when replay review confirmed he'd caught it just short, it cost the Vols one of their two remaining timeouts.
Had Jones not challenged the play, the Vols conceivably could have gotten the ball back with 20-30 seconds left instead of Missouri being able to run out the clock, but Jones said a clock-management chart the coaching staff uses showed it would have been better to challenge the play.
"If we would have played it, we probably would have gotten the ball with three or four seconds left," he said. "We thought it was a very, very close call. We were going to challenge the first one. I was going to challenge it because I saw them hit it, and right as we went to challenge it, they got the buzz down (from the booth to review it).
"Why keep your timeouts in your back pocket? You're trying to win a football game. Nothing we do is by chance."
On the surface
The condition and appearance of the field at Neyland Stadium has drawn some public criticism from fans in the last month or so, and Jones was asked about it on Monday.
Tennessee was using heat lamps to improve the condition of the grass after the Chattanooga game in October, and while it made it look better for the remaining home games, the surface looked fairly poor against Kentucky and Missouri the past two week.
"We're talking about that," Jones said. "I don't know if had to do with the different climate. It's been an unusual year in terms of climate, from heat to the cold and the extreme temperatures. They've really made a great effort in trying to get the field ready, and our field maintenance crew does a great job.
"As we continue to evaluate everything in our program from A to Z, obviously that's one of the topics of discussions that we will have in terms of continuing to improve and have the best surface in the country. We take great pride in that. That'll be one of those things when we look at the program, but I know our field maintenance crew does a great job."
Mosley on the mend
Freshman Charles Mosley suffered a broken leg in a car accident back in July, but Jones said the former four-star recruit is making "encouraging" progress in his rehabilitation.
The 6-foot-5 Mosley is down some 20 pounds to 350, which Jones joked is "the lightest he's been probably in 10 years," and has resumed running.
"Our goal is to have him available and have him be able to compete for spring football, but he's made remarkable progress," Jones said. "I think that's a tribute to him and his work ethic, but also our entire training staff at Tennessee. They've done a tremendous job. It's class and rehab, class and rehab, class and rehab."
Mosley, who can also play defensive line, should help Tennessee's depth on the offensive line.
Jones joked he has a bet with the freshman on what would happen quicker, Mosley getting to 345 pounds or Jones dropping 10 pounds.
"He's winning the bet right now," Jones joked.
Status updates
Jones was hopeful starting center Mack Crowder (knee, ankle) would return to practice Monday, but his status figures to be ongoing throughout the week. Starting guard Marcus Jackson (leg) is expected to play against Vanderbilt.
Receiver Marquez North has a torn labrum "that kind of stems back to an old high school injury," Jones said, and it will require surgery. Quarterback Justin Worley and linebacker Dillon Bates suffered similar injuries this season.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.