Moving players around during spring practice is a common practice among college football teams.
Butch Jones and his Vols coaching staff have moved several guys around this spring, trying to figure out where each player can best help the team.
UT defensive coordinator John Jancek told the media on Thursday that senior Chris Weatherd is one of those players who has switched positions. The Texas native has moved from linebacker to defensive end.
"Jancek: We’ve moved Chris Weatherd to defensive end and he gives us an element of speed off the edge, which is going to be important moving forward and adding depth at the defensive end position."
Weatherd, a highly touted JuCo transfer that came to Knoxville a season ago, played in all 13 games for the Vols in 2014 (with one start, against Arkansas State), accounting for 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks.
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The switch to defensive end is an obvious move for Weatherd. Tennessee has plenty of depth at linebacker, but they don’t have a lot of depth along their defensive line (even though they have plenty of talent).
Weatherd has SEC speed. He can get off the ball extremely quick and wreak havoc in the backfield. There’s no doubt that his value to the team as an edge rusher is greater than his value as a linebacker (given the current state of the roster).
If there’s a path to more playing time for Weatherd, it’s at the defensive end position.