Tennessee football: William Mohan suspension could turn out devastating

He wasn’t a starter last year, but William Mohan provided Tennessee football with much-needed depth at linebacker. Given the fact that the Vols three rotational linebackers had the three worst PFF regular season grades last year of any defender who played 100 snaps, they need all the help they can get there.

As a result, the indefinite suspension of Mohan, who transferred to UT in 2021 from the Michigan Wolverines, could be devastating. According to Carissa Simpson of WVLT, Mohan was arrested Sunday for domestic aggravated assault, stemming from an event that occurred Saturday night.

We won’t go into the allegations here. If they are true, however, Tennessee football has to cut bait with him. They are extremely serious. He’s got a preliminary hearing scheduled for Friday, Sept. 16, right before the Vols face the Akron Zips. Presumably, we’ll know more then.

However, for now, let’s focus on the suspension. UT returns an All-SEC caliber linebacker in Jeremy Banks plus both rotational players from last year in Aaron Beasley and Solon Page III. Meanwhile, linebacker Juwan Mitchell is returning from a season-ending injury.

That would seem like enough depth, but given the PFF regular season grades of Banks, Beasley and Page, which we mentioned, and the fact that Mitchell may be rusty coming off an injury, this unit still had a potential void to fill. Mohan could have filled that void.

Last year, Mohan had nine total tackles, six of which were solo. Entering his redshirt sophomore season at 6’1″ 210 pounds, he was expected to be a major contributor on special teams and had a good shot at contributing regularly on defense.

When you consider the transfer of Aaron Willis in the offseason, Mohan looks even more valuable. Sure, newcomers Elijah Herring and Kalib Perry could help out there, but Josh Heupel targeted Mohan as a transfer last year for a reason. Expectations were for him to contribute heavily.

At least for now, that doesn’t seem likely to happen. That could become a problem when Tennessee football faces the Pittsburgh Panthers the second week of the season. Even if Mohan’s issue gets resolved, he likely won’t be ready to go by that game.

Pitt has all the tools of having a great offense, but they’ve just got to develop more experience at quarterback and receiver given the departures of Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison. If Mohan had taken a step forward, he could have helped to exploit that.

Of course, the suspension could last a lot longer, and he could even be dismissed depending on the allegations. There’s the outside chance that this matter gets resolved early, though, and he sees the field quickly. That’s not likely, though, given the severity of the situation.

Because of that, Tennessee football’s linebackers have even more pressure on them to perform. This is a position that has a big need for improvement and more depth, and Mohan could have helped with both of those things. He won’t be able to now.