Tennessee football: 10 Vols with injury concerns for 2019

We’re sticking with the offensive line for our next guy on the list, and Nathan Niehaus is highly similar to K’Rojhn Calbert. He had to redshirt in 2016 and then sat out 2017 due to injury, which kept him buried in the depth chart in 2018.

However, some injuries up front forced him into the rotation in 2018. He began to improve over the year and became a valuable asset in the rotation. Then he suffered another injury and had to miss the Vanderbilt Commodores game to close out the year with a bowl on the line.

Niehaus was then limited during Tennessee football’s spring practice. If Niehaus had just been hurt in 2017, he would be No. 10 on the list. That’s because Calbert and Cheyenne Labruzza appear to have higher spots in their respective rotations now.

However, by suffering an injury in 2018, we decided to move Niehaus up. That injury could be what knocked him down anyway. He’s still a valuable player, and as we said on the previous slide, the Vols need as many offensive linemen as possible. Any injuries to the unit would be devastating as Jeremy Pruitt tries to develop something there, and that puts Niehaus here.