Tennessee football’s five biggest position battles for 2021 spring practice

4. Edge rusher

Defensive tackle likely has everybody back. Darel Middleton, Greg Emerson and Kurrott Garland are all certainly back, and Aubrey Solomon hasn’t given any indication he’s leaving. Strongside defensive end has Matthew Butler back too, and LaTrell Bumphus and Ja’Quain Blakely are likely to be back. Simply put, we know a good bit already about 75 percent of the defensive line.

However, the weak side defensive end, the primary edge rusher who would have played outside linebacker in Jeremy Pruitt’s 3-4 but will play up on the line in Tim Banks’ 4-3 based primary nickel scheme, is up in the air. Deandre Johnson would have played that, but he transferred to the Miami Hurricanes. Kivon Bennett was best at it, but he was dismissed from the team.

That leaves an open competition for Tennessee football here. Guys like Tyler Baron, Morven Joseph and Roman Harrison could all compete for the role. Byron Young, one of the commitments in the 2021 class, is an early enrollee, so he’ll compete as well.

Dylan Brooks’ release from his letter of intent due to the coaching change was a big loss, as he could have been a huge help here. However, all of those other players being on Rocky Top for spring ball gives Banks and Josh Heupel a head start, so it could be an interesting spring battle.