Tennessee football: Five Georgia State Panthers to watch for against Vols

The Georgia State Panthers have to replace their best defensive end from last year in. Marterious Allen However, they do offset that by getting back Hardrick Willis, who had two and a half tackles for a loss and one and a half sacks as a backup in 2017 while not playing in 2018. Terry Thomas is back at the other end spot after three and a half tackles for a loss and a sack in 2018.

But the anchor for all of them, even the reason Allen put up major stats last year, is Dontae Wilson in the middle. Wilson had 40 tackles in 2018, including four tackles for a loss and one and a half sacks. Those aren’t splash numbers, but with more experience in the system, he figures to take a major leap this year.

Meanwhile, despite the potential with so many guys back, there’s no debating that Tennessee football had a historically bad offensive line last year, and the worst part was in the interior, which will be responsible for blocking Wilson, a nose guard. As a result, the Vols could have more trouble with him than people expect.

Wilson was a big reason that Georgia State was good at stuffing runs last year. Their problem was not being able to stop runs that weren’t stuff from going for big gains. But given how often the Vols were stuffed, this could end up being a tough combination.