Tennessee football: Vols 10 biggest winners from 2019 fall camp

After a season-ending injury in 2017 and starting half the season, while struggling, in 2018, Marcus Tatum entered 2019 with competition. Sure, Tennessee football lost Drew Richmond to transfer and Chance Hall, Nathan Niehaus, Eric Crosby and Melvin McBride to retirement.

However, elite recruiting with guys like Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright, combined with Trey Smith’s potential to return to health, put the lineman who has struggled with injuries on notice. Morris, as an early enrollee, working his way onto the first-team only served to further put pressure on Tatum with Wright arriving in the fall.

Well, he has lived up to that pressure. In the summer, Tatum got to 6’6″ 316 pounds. He then spent the fall welcoming the competition and never getting overtaken by Wright officially. In fact, even when Trey Smith worked with the unit, Will Friend had Tatum in there with the first team at tackle. So it’s key the Vols are relying on his veteran presence to complement Morris’s potential.

Wright still being on the unit is also a big deal, but Tatum staying in the rotation was huge. The depth chart had him officially in the 10-man offensive line rotation that Friend, Jim Chaney and Jeremy Pruitt have planned to run. Adding Chaney, an offensive line guru, has clearly served to only help him. And that’s a huge plus.