Tennessee football bound to see upgrade at LB with addition of Nebraska transfer Jackson Hannah

Heading into the season last year, linebacker was already an area of concern for Tennessee football. Henry To’o To’o had transferred to the Alabama Crimson Tide, Quavaris Crouch transferred to the Michigan State Spartans and J.J. Peterson entered the portal.

Josh Heupel offset that with Texas Longhorns transfer Juwan Mitchell and Michigan Wolverines transfer William Mohan. However, Mitchell was hurt all year, and Mohan was a reserve along with incoming freshman Aaron Willis. That left Jeremy Banks, Aaron Beasley and Solon Page III to run the show. All were serviceable but had glaring weaknesses.

Well, Tennessee football could be seeing a much-needed upgrade with a new addition. Jackson Hannah has transferred from the Nebraska Cornhuskers to the Vols over a month after entering the portal. Ryan Callahan of GoVols247 reports he will join Rocky Top as a preferred walk-on.

We don’t know what Hannah will bring to the table yet, but he was a four-star on Rivals and a three-star on 247Sports and ESPN in 2019. At 6’3″ 220 pounds, he played one game last year. However, the graduate of Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tenn., adds more depth to a position that needs an upgrade.

Look, Banks had the best stat line this year for the Vols, but all three linebackers we named had the lowest PFF regular season grades of anybody on defense who played at least 100 snaps. Their issue was containment, as they often let quarterbacks run all over them. Matt Corral, for instance, had 195 yards against them on the ground.

With Hannah coming in, Tennessee football is bound to have a couple of guys in the roster who can step up and offset that issue. After all, Hannah had a good bit of hype on the trail, Mitchell was a proven linebacker at Texas, and Willis was a four-star across the board.

What are the chances that none of those guys work out? That would be unheard of. Banks is bound to develop more anyway, as he showed plenty of evidence that he could be great, and Page will have a ton of experience. Even Beasley is bound to improve.

One look at all these guys on the roster shows that Tennessee football should be much better at the position next year. Hannah will have three years of eligibility left at the position, so he also brings a lot of depth along with Mohan. Those could be the two linebackers of the future in Tim Banks’ system. Simply put, he’s a huge get.