As Darrin Kirkland Jr. sat out this spring, there was a wide open race for the inside linebacker spot. Tennessee football has one clear guy in Daniel Bituli. He was already a starter and then named the most improved player in the spring, so nobody should be shocked by that.
However, there were legitimate questions about the other spot, especially with Quart’e Sapp leaving early. Quavaris Crouch, JJ Peterson, Shanon Reid and Solon Page III were all players in the running to get that other spot.
Well, Will Ignont, a junior, should have worked his way into that first team rotation. But he didn’t. A junior, he got stuck behind Reid and Page. Page is a sophomore, by the way. So Ignont is already behind, and it’ll be worse when Kirkland does.
Even with Bituli and Kirkland being seniors, Crouch and Peterson are major threats to Ignont with Page and Reid already ahead of him. And Ignont only had one and a half tackles in the spring game. Simply put, he may need to look at taking a redshirt or transferring as well. The only other thing could be to try outside linebacker, where things will be more open in 2020.