Tennessee football: 5 things to watch for in Vols spring game

2. Will the offensive line look improved, or will the defensive line just be terrible?

The questions of the defensive line and who will become playmakers there pours over into our next major thing to watch for on Saturday. After all, the roles have been flipped from 2018 in a major way.

Tennessee football’s defensive line was the best part of its team last year. The offensive line, meanwhile, was a huge issue. In fact, it was historically bad by many standards. It made for a very rough first year overall.

However, Jeremy Pruitt got a historically great offensive line recruiting class, and lots of talent is back. Meanwhile, the defensive line, which was very thin behind its first string, lost every member of its first string: Kyle Phillips, Alexis Johnson and Shy Tuttle. The answers to that unit won’t be clear until the new guys, including two junior college players, arrive in the summer.

This spring, we’ve heard a lot about the offensive line dominating the defensive line. Pruitt has specifically touted the development of the line and has noted that on defense, it’s taking a bit longer to find the right guys. However, it’s hard to know if that’s truly development from the line or indicative of a bad defensive line coming this fall.

Honestly, there may be no way to tell. But Saturday will at least give us a glimpse of where they stand. Is the offensive line that good? Does somebody in the defensive line step up and become a playmaker the Vols can rely on? What will the disparity look like in the trenches, if there’s any disparity at all?