Tennessee football makes cut for 2023 Georgia DL Tyree Weathersby

Hybrid defensive linemen are a huge part of Tim Banks’ system as defensive coordinator for Tennessee football. With the loss of Ja’Quain Blakely and Caleb Tremblay from this past year, he and Rodney Garner have a major task to replace key talent already, but they also need to set themselves up more for the future.

Josh Heupel appear to be doing just that for them, as he has the Vols trending for such a player out of Georgia. The Vols are now in 2023 prospect Tyree Weathersby’s top four. Standing between 6’3″ and 6’4″, Weathersby weighs right around 250 pounds.

A three-star on Rivals, Weathersby is not yet rated anywhere else. Joining Tennessee football on his list are the South Carolina Gamecocks, Mississippi State Bulldogs and Kentucky Wildcats. Weathersby announced the schools Monday evening on Twitter.

Given his frame, Weathersby’s listing is mixed. He is considered a strongside defensive end on Rivals and a regular defensive end on ESPN, but 247Sports and On3 have him listed as a defensive lineman. That’s what gives him the hybrid defensive tackle title from us.

Players in Banks’ system can sometimes alternate between defensive ends and edge rushers occupying an outside linebacker role. However, despite him returning to a nickel-heavy 4-3 base defense, he also likes one defensive lineman who can play anywhere up front.

This is the role Weathersby would play, one similar to Dominic Bailey, Austin Lewis and a couple of other guys on the roster this year. Right now, the Vols clearly aren’t deep at that position, so the addition of Weathersby to next year’s class would be huge.

Currently, Tennessee football has both 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions to land Weathersby with a medium confidence interval. There are no favorites on the Rivals Future Cast, but the Vols are the majority favorite on the Rivals Fan Future Cast and On3. As a result, it seems likely that they land him at this point.