Tennessee football’s 10 biggest injury concerns for 2022
839. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Junior. 9. Defensive lineman. Elijah Simmons. player
6’2″ 340 pounds
Despite having the profile of a nose tackle in Jeremy Pruitt’s 3-4 scheme, which is likely why he committed to Tennessee football out of Pearl-Cohn High School in Nashville, Elijah Simmons stayed around as Josh Heupel brought in Tim Banks to run his nickel-heavy 4-3 scheme. Even with the change, Simmons started to see more action.
Last year, Simmons started the first four games, and he appeared in seven of them. However, his playing time began to be significantly reduced due to undisclosed injuries, similar to Kingston Harris, but it appears to have been due to him tweaking his knee against the Florida Gators.
Anyway, with that injury, Kansas Jayhawks transfer Da’Jon Terry stepped up and filled the void the Memphis native left by being hurt. Still, Simmons recorded 11 total tackles on the year, one more than his whole career under Pruitt, and he had four solo tackles, one and a half tackles for a loss and a pass deflection.
With Terry still on the team, Simmons is not as necessary, but he still brings a lot to the table. As a result, him being healthy would be very helpful, especially with the losses suffered up front on the defensive line from this past year.