Here is a look at the Tennessee football Volunteers offensive line class for 2021.
After a historically bad offensive line in 2018, Tennessee football enters 2020 with what may be one of the best in the SEC. There are numerous reasons for that, and many of them are a testament to Jeremy Pruitt.
The Vols have All-SEC guard Trey Smith and veteran Riley Locklear, two players who committed to Butch Jones, back for their senior years. However, they also have starting center Brandon Kennedy, who transferred because of Pruitt, back for a sixth year of eligibility, and junior college transfer Jahmir Johnson, another Pruitt commit, entering his senior year.
That’s a combination of experience and new talent. But how does Tennessee football stand for its future after those seniors leave? That’s where recruiting for 2021 will play a role, and it could play a critical one at that.
In this post, we’re going to continue with our evaluations of the Vols’ 2021 recruiting class by looking at offensive line. As usual, we’ll look at the commitments and then the top prospects before breaking down numerous other potential prospects. It’s clear that this is one position you can never afford to consistently build up depth on.
For immediate help past 2020, the Vols added transfer Cade Mays, a five-star in the 2017 recruiting class initially committed to UT but who flipped to the Georgia Bulldogs due to the Jones drama. Mays is back at UT, where his father Kevin Mays played.
Also, Pruitt has a group of elite young guys in sophomores Darnell Wright and Wanya Morris, who will be starting at tackle this year. Then he has rising junior K’Rojhn Calbert, another player who committed to Jones. Jerome Carvin, Ollie Lane, Chris Akporoghene and Jackson Lampley are all returning redshirt freshmen and sophomores.
Then there are newcomers in the 2020 recruiting class, including four-star Cooper Mays and three-stars James Robinson and Javontez Spraggins. So the Vols have some real talent. But what about adding new guys? Let’s break that down here. This is our evaluation of Tennessee football’s offensive line class for 2021 during the unusually long recruiting dead period.