Tennessee football: Top 10 position battles in Vols 2019 fall camp

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1. Offensive tackle

Candidates:

Wanya Morris; Darnell Wright; Marcus Tatum; Nathan Niehaus

We all know Tennessee football was historically bad on the offensive line last year. What didn’t help is having to move Nathan Niehaus inside after Brandon Kennedy and Riley Locklear got hurt and then losing Trey Smith at left tackle due to blood clots.

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The Vols just didn’t have the depth last year to replace those guys. However, this year, Pruitt added four players with a historically great recruiting class up front, and he returns everybody back to health except for Smith, who is still up in the air. The top two guys of this great class, though, were tackles.

And that makes both starting tackle positions wide open. Wanya Morris earned his way into the first team in the spring. It makes sense, as the 6’4″ 313-pound true freshman was a composite five-star and only lost a star on Rivals due to a benign injury.

Meanwhile, summer enrollee Darnell Wright, the only unanimous five-star in the class, comes in with immediate expectations of taking over a tackle spot at 6’6″ 330 pounds. Both Wright and Morris have the raw talent.

Then there’s Marcus Tatum, who has the experience as a redshirt junior. And, as we mentioned, Niehaus could be in contention to start at guard at tackle given the return of players to health and the additions of other ones.

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As a result, both spots are wide open. Even if Smith is cleared to play, at least one spot will be open at tackle. And he could move back to guard, leaving both spots open at tackle. Simply put, this is the most open spot on the field, and two freshmen being the potential favorites to start there prove that. So keep an eye on this unit for fall camp.

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