Tennessee Volunteers defensive coordinator John Jancek told the media on Tuesday that he will use true freshman Jakob Johnson and redshirt sophomore Kenny Bynum at middle linebacker in the Vols’ bowl game against Iowa on January 2.
Bynum and Johnson are filling in for suspended senior middle linebacker A.J. Johnson, who missed the final two games of the regular season.
Jakob Johnson started in place of Johnson in the final two games of the season. He made three tackles in each start.
Bynum played in six games this season, with his most action coming in the final two games of the season. He made three tackles in Tennessee’s final two games.
Jancek said on Tuesday that both players have “Competed well. They’ve pushed each other. They’re both in there doing the best that they can. I know they’re excited to be back in their home city and play in front of probably some friends and family”. He added that “They’ll both play. It’ll just be a matter of how many plays in a row the offense can generate. Those will come into play during the game as far as how we sub”.
There’s no doubt that Tennessee is missing the on-the-field leadership and ability that A.J. Johnson provided. It’s not possible to replace a guy like A.J., who is second all-time on Tennessee’s career tackles list, overnight.
The fact that true freshman Dillon Bates, the likely candidate to be the Vols’ starting middle linebacker in 2015, is out for the year just makes Johnson even harder to replace.
But the younger Johnson and Bynum both received valuable reps during the final two games of the season. They might not be able to replace A.J., but they’ll certainly look a lot better than they did against Missouri and Vanderbilt.