Tennessee football positional assessment

The Tennessee offensive line was limited in numbers in the spring due to some veteran injuries and maintenance days paving the way for some youth to get their nose bloodied and help them take a step in their development.

“That’s the silver lining, we are building depth,” offensive line coach Glen Elarbee said. “The young guys are getting tons and tons of reps, tons of looks. I told them all the day before the first day of pads, I was like ‘Man, there’s probably going to be some dark moments here for the next three weeks. There’s going to be light at the end of the tunnel. You will be better for it, and we will be better as a team for it.’ When we get to fall camp, our depth will be right where you want it.”

It’s a key step for this program in 2025. But the focus now is on being dialed in for 2024 which means two things — staying healthy and finding a left guard.

Josh Huepel and Elarbee have the luxury of being settled at 4 of their 5 offensive line spots heading into summer workouts.

Center Cooper Mays anchors everything up front as the center. Mays has as much experience as any lineman in college football and can obviously help a young quarterback like Nico Iamaleava. Even though Mays has tons of experience he has some areas he’s focusing on this summer.

“Big thing for me is getting stronger as it is every year so checking that box then when it comes to refining technique, using my hands better. I’m a smaller guy so kind of making sure I hit the mark every time and staying healthy,” Mays said.

Beside Mays, veteran Javontez Spraggins returns at right guard. Spraggins missed spring as he recovered from a knee injury late in the regular season, but he should be good to go this summer to prepare for the fall. At tackle, Tennessee appears set with John Campbell flipping to right tackle and Lance Heard at left tackle. The LSU transfer, Heard, has been a plug and play guy who has adjusted to Tennessee’s offense well since his arrival in January. Heard had a really good spring.

That puts the offensive line focus come fall camp on finding the answer at left guard. Tennessee has veterans Jackson Lampley and Dayne Davis as possibilities. Davis is clearly the utility guy as he could play any of the five positions. Andrej Karic was brought in a year ago to be the left guard, but Karic deal with injury in the fall and didn’t practice this spring. With Lampley limited this spring as well, redshirt freshman Sham Umarov got all the reps he could handle and looks like the young guy ho is ready to battle for the job.

It wasn’t a surprise Tennessee didn’t find their answer at left guard this spring. It’s a position battle we expect to do deep into fall camp.

While finding a left guard is the priority, building depth is a must as well. In the day and age of the transfer portal, having a deep position group is harder than ever. Tennessee must find someone capable of being the back up center and then they just need to develop the freshman class that arrived in January and a couple this month. Everyone on campus likes their talent but they are first year players. It’s why they can’t get enough reps. It’s why spring practice was so valuable and given the defensive front they were going against, it’s why most are pleased with the potential of the youth for later on down the road.

“I’m really proud of them, that’s the first thing,” Mays said. “I explained to them that it’s going to be hard and tough, but the best thing for any young o-lineman that everybody goes through is being thrown into the fire and having to figure it out.”

“One of the best defensive lines in the country for sure. I told them if you can play well against those guys you will have no issue with anybody else,” Mays offered.

The X-factor

The second year players in the system. Can the bring quality depth and help if called upon. Through three seasons, Glen Elarbee hasn’t played an offensive lineman that he signed out of high school. Is this the year that changes? Is that group of guys including Umarov and Vysen Lang capable of helping if called upon? It would be a first if they could.

It’s what makes depth the x-factor for the offensive line in 2024. It’s a position most every school is in.

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