Tennessee football: Vols top 5 needs to fill National Signing Day 2019

4. Defensive tackle

Tennessee football needs defensive tackles as much as it needs offensive linemen. Luckily for the Vols, there are fewer defensive tackles on a field at one time than offensive linemen, so the need isn’t as great when they stock up on talent. But it’s still an issue.

The only position where the Vols are completely rebuilding heading into Jeremy Pruitt’s second year is defensive line, as Kyle Phillips, Shy Tuttle and Alexis Johnson have all graduated. To make matters worse, none of the players last year, including junior college guys like Emmit Gooden, could not provide serviceable reps as backups.

As a result, the starters remained in the game most of the time, and they got very tired in the second half of games. Now, with all of them gone, who is going to be able to step up for the Vols at that position?

Well, Pruitt knows he needs help, which is why he has focused on that front in this 2019 recruiting class. Luckily for him, three more people have committed at defensive tackle, and Roman Harrison is a defensive end commitment to help shore up the line. One of the tackles, Savion Williams, is a four-star, as is Harrison. Another is a junior college transfer, Darel Middleton.

However, while those three have signed, LeDarrius Cox, another three-star defensive tackle, has committed but not yet signed. And he could flip to the Auburn Tigers, who have made a heavy push for him. That’s what makes this a greater need. Pruitt has to replace everybody up front from his 2018 team that was useful, and he only has two signees at tackle right now. He needs to close the deal on Cox to make sure this is no issue going forward.