Tennessee football: Top 10 dark horse Vols for 2020 season

Hometown: Atlanta, Ga.

Henry To’o To’o is locked in as Tennessee football’s main starter at inside linebacker. However, we’ve been talking all year about the opening at the other spot with him given the departure of Daniel Bituli. Among all the players competing for that other linebacker role, Solon Page III has the most experience, so he should definitely get a look at the position.

At 6’2″ 220 pounds, the graduate of Kell High School in Georgia was part of a group of rising linebackers recruited by Butch Jones when Jeremy Pruitt took over, one that included Quart’e Sapp and Shanon Reid. Sapp left the program early, and Reid transferred away, leaving Page as the only guy still in the program who could have remained in it from those players.

Last year, Page only had seven tackles, five of which were solo. As a result, he doesn’t play too much. Having a new position coach in Brian Niedermeyer, who replaces Kevin Sherrer, may complicate things a bit as well. Derrick Ansley is familiar with him, though, so he still should have a resume to go on to this point.

Meanwhile, Page still has a good bit of experience and is very familiar with the program, which should be a major advantage given the need to replace Bituli. After all, Bituli provided that experience, and without him, somebody who understands the system well could be the best guy to take over. Page may be that guy.