Tennessee football: 5 things Vols didn’t reveal at 2019 SEC Media Days

2. Trey Smith’s health

When it comes to the questions about the trenches, the status of Tennessee football’s most talented and most proven offensive lineman is obviously going to come into play. But nothing changed on that front Tuesday.

All Jeremy Pruitt said was that Smith wants to play football, and the doctors are in the process of figuring out plans so he can do that. But we don’t know if he will be able to and we have no idea what the timetable for that is.

As a result, this was no real answer to the question. Given all the attrition we mentioned on the line with our last post, whether or not Smith can play is a big deal. He was the Vols best blocker two years ago at guard and then their best blocker last year at left tackle.

Simply put, Smith is the best offensive lineman on the team. If he can get back on the field, he immediately provides a huge boost to the rotation on the offensive line, especially with so many young players in the rotation to begin with.

So whether or not Smith is working with doctors or wants to play football is irrelevant. We all knew that was the case. The only positive you could take from what Pruitt said is that it implied Smith will eventually be able to play.

However, when Smith is able to play remains a huge question, and that’s no guarantee to begin with. So it’s another major unanswered question regarding the trenches from SEC Media Days and one that everybody wants to find out about.