Four-star recruits are where the excitement is usually dialed up when building a class. However, Josh Heupel was dealt such a rough hand when taking over Tennessee football that he had to squeeze production out of tons of three-stars. It worked, and now many of those three-stars are central to the Vols entering this year.
That’s the case despite Heupel adding new transfers and bringing in new recruits who are much more highly touted. Three-stars always become integral to teams out of nowhere, but UT is loaded with them. Some are the biggest stars on the team. Just how crucial are they?
This post will break that down by ranking the most important three-stars. Each of these players was a three-star across all major services: Rivals, 247Sports, ESPN and On3. Junior college transfers and kickers and punters don’t count. Here are Tennessee football’s 10 key players for 2022 who were rated three-star recruits or lower across the board.
6’4″ 325 pounds
Multiple offensive linemen who were not recruited heavily are likely to be in the Vols’ rotation this year. Dayne Davis is a walk-on who could become a starter. Kingston Harris finally emerged last year after three years in Jeremy Pruitt’s program, first as a defensive tackle, who then converted over to offensive line.
However, Ollie Lane, a local three-star from Knox County in 2018, gets the nod over those two. Although Davis could start and Lane is playing for a rotational spot, Lane did play more snaps last year and had a higher PFF grade than Davis or Harris. Also, he could play multiple roles on the line.
Last year, Lane spent most of his time at guard starting when Josh Heupel had to rotate the line due to injuries. There will be injuries again this year, so if he has that same role, the graduate of Gibbs High School in Corryton, Tenn., will likely start again. Also, he could see action for Tennessee football at center this year.