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Evaluating Tennessee football’s 2023 class at dead period: LB

By Caleb Calhoun

Rossview's RJ McNeil (9) runs the ball as Riverdale's Caleb Herring (11) tackles him on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, at Riverdale.3 Riverdale Vs Rossview Football
Rossview's RJ McNeil (9) runs the ball as Riverdale's Caleb Herring (11) tackles him on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, at Riverdale.3 Riverdale Vs Rossview Football /
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With numerous questions and issues at linebacker last year, the expected main contributors for Tennessee football this year are seniors. Everybody who figures to be in the rotation will be gone by either this year or next year, and while there are plenty of other options behind them, none are proven in Tim Banks’ system.

As a result, Josh Heupel has a lot of work to do on the recruiting trail. For the Vols’ 2023 class, he seems to have put that work in with the commitments at the position so far. Brian Jean-Mary and Mike Ekeler will have a lot of talent to work with in 2023 and beyond.

That’s assuming the class stays together, and all signs point to that happening right now. What else, if anything is necessary, can Heupel do, though, to bolster depth at the position for Tennessee football? Let’s take a look at that now in our evaluation of the Vols’ recruitment of linebackers for their 2023 class.

Here’s a look at linebackers for Josh Heupel and the Tennessee football Volunteers in their 2023 recruiting class.

Tennessee linebacker Solon Page III (38) warming up before the start of the NCAA college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Bowling Green Falcons in Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, September 2, 2021.Ut Bowling Green
Tennessee linebacker Solon Page III (38) warming up before the start of the NCAA college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Bowling Green Falcons in Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, September 2, 2021.Ut Bowling Green /

LBs on roster who will be out of eligibility 2023

Solon Page III

Nick Humphrey

A walk-on linebacker, Nick Humphrey saw his first bit of action last year against the Bowling Green Falcons. The story surrounding these two is Solon Page III, who has been with the program since 2017 and had a mini-breakout campaign last year, which was largely the result of a season-ending injury to Juwan Mitchell.

Page joined Jeremy Banks and Aaron Beasley, and while they struggled severely based on PFF regular season grades of players who saw action on at least 100 snaps in 2021, his development was still finally on display. As a veteran on the team, he provides solid leadership too.

Taking all this into account, Tennessee football will miss Page next year. He came away with 38 tackles, 14 of which were solo, along with two and a half tackles for a loss, two pass breakups and a pick-six. Although he was a backup and will likely play that role this year, losing him makes it key for the Vols to discover new talent immediately in 2023.

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