Tennessee football: Notes from Vols coaches fall camp media session

3. No answers in the trenches yet

Tennessee football had a horrible offensive line last year and replaces all three starters on the defensive line, their strongest unit last year, meaning they have a ton of questions going into fall camp. What’s clear, based on what they said, is that nobody is leading.

Pruitt had slightly different takes, though. He was more vague on the defensive line.

"“We haven’t practiced since the spring. We have lots of inexperience. We have lots of talented guys. We’re bigger, stronger, faster.”"

Ansley didn’t help matters, though, making it pretty clear they would be making their analysis in fall camp.

"“Coach Rocker does a really good job molding those guys, getting them to play the right way, so I look forward to seeing the outcome of fall camp for those guys.”"

Of course, this makes sense. The Vols lost everybody here and have two junior college transfers and a transfer in Aubrey Solomon from the Michigan Wolverines. Those two JuCo guys weren’t there in the spring, though.

On the offensive line, there were still questions, but Pruitt showed more excitement. Here’s what he said.

"“If you look at the group all together, no, they’ve not played a lot together. “(We) mixed a lot of different groups this spring, and I’m excited about the group and how they’re going to perform in this fall camp.”"

Chaney added there are lots of questions up in the air as well. However, he did say he’s specifically interested in seeing Darnell Wright.

"“With the young guys, it’s interesting for me to see who’s going to play the cleanest.”"

Simply put, the questions up front remain. And the statues of Smith and Solomon still being up in the air are helping with those questions. But hey, that’s why they practice in August. They’ve got to find the right guys.