Tennessee football’s five biggest spring practice storylines for 2022
1. Is the linebacker rotation a wide open race?
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Position battles will be their own post, and linebackers won’t be a part of that. Tennessee football brings back all three rotational players at the position from last year in Solon Page III, Aaron Beasley and Jeremy Banks, and Banks was one of the most productive players statistically on the team in 2021.
However, none of them graded out well during the regular season, and Beasley and Page struggled severely. As a result, while there doesn’t seem to be a position battle, it’s possible that one opens up given how this was clearly the weakest unit for Rocky Top last year.
Adding to that possibility is the return of Juwan Mitchell, who suffered a season-ending injury last year. Multiple recruits combined with highly touted prospects who were buried in the depth chart last year further increases the possibility that a race for the starters among the linebackers develops despite everybody back.
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Despite a solid first season, nobody’s job should be completely safe for Tennessee football, and that’s more true here than anywhere else. Will Heupel open up the competition at linebacker or give the first-team reps to the returners? Keep an eye on that throughout spring ball. It’s the one spot that brings tons of questions outside of just a position battle.