Tennessee football: 10 Vols who did not benefit from 2019 spring practice

While the defensive line had wide open competition during the spring because it lost all of its talent, the offensive line had wide open competition because, well, it was just so bad last year. Tennessee football had a historically great recruiting class there with five new guys, three of whom were four-stars and another one of whom was a five-star.

Two of the guys were early enrollees, and that put pressure on the returning offensive linemen to make an impact. Well, Jeremy Pruitt was pretty clear on standout guys during the spring, and a few returners did not make the cut necessary.

Riley Locklear was one of those guys. He didn’t really get any callouts, and when the spring game roster came out, he was listed on the second team. That’s devastating for Locklear as a junior, especially when Wanya Morris, a freshman, made first-team. K’Rojhn Calbert, a sophomore, also made first-team. And Pruitt specifically touted the development of them.

Considering the fact that five-star phenom Darnell Wright is arriving in the summer, Brandon Kennedy will be good to go and Trey Smith could still get healthy, it’s hard to see where Locklear will fit into the rotation. And Kennedy is the only senior, so he may need to take a redshirt to develop more.