Tennessee football: 10 biggest winners from spring practice 2021
Josh Heupel’s first spring practice period as head coach of the Tennessee football program came in the midst of turmoil. The Vols were and still are under an NCAA investigation for violations that occurred in the program under Jeremy Pruitt, multiple surprise suspensions kept certain players’ statuses in limbo, and a wave of transfers, to and from, created huge questions for the roster.
However, the Vols still were able to address lots of questions facing the program, even if there were no complete answers, particularly the quarterback race. While the spring game and scrimmages gave us an idea of who stood out the most, reports from practice also helped.
In this post, we’re going to take all of those things into account while ranking who gained the most during the spring. Some players needed a strong spring and did what they needed to do. Others came out of nowhere and did themselves lots of players. Let’s break down who they all were. These are Tennessee football’s 10 biggest winners from Heupel’s first spring practice.
Pick Analysis. Sophomore. 10. 839. Scouting Report. Linebacker. Bryson Eason. player
6’2″ 275 pounds; Hometown: Memphis, Tenn.
He didn’t rack up any stats at the spring game, but of the three four-star linebackers in the Vols’ 2020 class out of Shelby County’s Whitehaven High School, Bryson Eason is the only one still on the team playing linebacker specifically. Martavius French transferred, and Tamarion McDonald moved to defensive back.
Eason, however, moved to outside linebacker/edge rusher in the spring and got bigger to do it. The result seems to have worked. Outside linebackers coach Mark Ekeler singled out Eason specifically for his dramatic improvement in a spring press conference.
Given his unique ability to play inside or outside and him reportedly having a successful transition into the 4-3 scheme, there is reason to believe that Eason did what he needed to do in spring ball. He still has to compete with Tyler Baron, Morven Joseph and Roman Harrison for playing time, but he could definitely be a valuable edge rusher for Tennessee football.