All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football: Five positions of need for Vols ahead of National Signing Day

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the outside of Neyland Stadium before a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the outside of Neyland Stadium before a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next
Tennessee football
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images /

4. Defensive line

This past year, Tennessee football had to replace all three of its starting defensive linemen in Alexis Johnson, Shy Tuttle and Kyle Phillips. Then Emmit Gooden, its only returning contributor, suffered a season-ending injury in August. Aubrey Solomon, a key transfer from the Michigan Wolverines, didn’t get his eligibility waiver until the week of the opener.

This resulted in the unit struggling early on and needing time to develop. However, Solomon, Greg Emerson and Darel Middleton all became very solid players in the middle, and Matthew Butler, LaTrell Bumphus and Ja’Quain Blakely all became solid weapons on the outside as well. They’re all back this year, and Gooden is getting healthy, so the unit should be amazing in 2020.

However, everybody we just named, outside of Emerson, is going to be a senior this year. That also includes Savion Williams. As a result, Jeremy Pruitt has to find some new talent soon. He may need to redshirt a player or two.

Now, Emerson along with Kingston Harris, Kurrott Garland, John Mincey and Elijah Simmons leaves some bodies for the future. Pruitt also got commitments from four-stars Dominic Bailey and Omari Thomas this offseason.

But only one proven contributor will be back for 2021. That means the Vols have some work to do on the trail and could use a few more bodies down the road to make sure they are safe if players don’t work out. They haven’t done that yet. The two new signees at defensive tackle help, but they definitely need more.

Home/Vols Football