Tennessee football: Season-ending injury to Len’Neth Whitehead is devastating

Josh Heupel enters his second season with Tennessee football returning lots of talent, and depth at most places isn’t a problem. However if there was one area where depth could be a concern, even amongst returning talent, UT just got hit with an issue there.

Before Josh Heupel gave his preseason press conference Sunday, sources reported that running back Len’Neth Whitehead would miss the season due to an upper-body injury, according to Austin Price of VolQuest. Based on the Vols’ personnel at running back, Whitehead was the one player they couldn’t afford to lose.

Power running backs are crucial to Heupel’s system, and Whitehead, who stands at 6’2″ 220 pounds, was the one player to provide that role for Tennessee football. Given how they lost the Music City Bowl last year, coming up short on a 4th and 1 play, albeit the call being missed, that’s a crucial role.

Whitehead last year had 32 carries for 207 yards and two touchdowns. He emerged late due to injury, but entering this year, he was expected to be the power back to complement Jaylen Wright, the all-purpose back, and Jabari Small, the feature back.

The Vols did a good job in the offseason of adding more help with Justin Williams-Thomas, a highly touted recruit who could be a feature back, and Dylan Sampson, who could help as an all-purpose back. However, they have no more help for a power back.

Tee Hodge, who could have helped with Whitehead’s role, transferred before last season ended. Because Whitehead emerged, Tennessee football also lost Dee Beckwith, another power back. That made Whitehead the only player at the position entering this year.

As a result, this is a devastating loss for the Vols. In typical fashion for a tempo-based offense that likes to spread the field, short-yardage running plays were naturally going to be a concern for this team. Whitehead was specifically a guy to help alleviate that.

While it does help that Rocky Top returns every interior lineman from last year who was part of the rotation, a power back helps with that concern tremendously. Without White, UT will have to deal with that issue once again, and that’s a big deal.

So what’s the move going forward? Well, Tennessee football does have decent-sized backs in Small and Williams-Thomas, and Wright has shown some strength on his own. However, without White, unless they add another transfer, it’s likely they’ll struggle again on short-yardage plays. That’s what’s so devastating about this loss.