4. Who steps up in the trenches?
Tennessee football’s offensive line was historically bad in 2018. Their defensive line was the strongest part of the team, but everybody up front has now graduated. That leaves things wide open in the trenches heading into 2019.
To address the issue, Jeremy Pruitt brought in five new offensive linemen in the Vols’ 2019 recruiting class and four new defensive linemen, including three defensive tackles, two of whom are junior college transfers. Combine that with the four offensive linemen and four defensive tackles he brought in last year, and competition is wide open up front.
Where will Jeremy Pruitt go with all these guys? We already mentioned Kingston Harris spending time at offensive line. Greg Emerson also practiced at offensive line last spring. Meanwhile, the only members of this year’s recruiting class who will be there this spring on the line are offensive linemen Wanya Morris and Chris Akporoghene.
Considering that Akporoghene is the lowest-rated recruit in the class and the highest-rated, Darnell Wright, won’t come until the spring, what could happen up front is pretty wide open. The same is true with the two JuCo guys at defensive tackle not coming until the fall along with the fact that we still don’t know what will happen with Trey Smith and how healthy Brandon Kennedy is.
Simply put, there are tons of questions surrounding the Vols in the trenches, and this spring is a chance to help answer some of them. It won’t solve everything, but Tennessee football is in better shape up front than it was going into last spring.