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Tennessee football: Five surprises from Vols’ first depth chart of 2022

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee Herd Coach Josh Heupel at the 2021 Music City Bowl NCAA college football game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021.Kns Tennessee Purdue
Tennessee Herd Coach Josh Heupel at the 2021 Music City Bowl NCAA college football game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021.Kns Tennessee Purdue /
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Tennessee defensive linemen Omari Thomas (21) and lineman Kurott Garland (99) warming up before the NCAA football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and South Alabama Jaguars in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, November 20, 2021.Utvsal1120
Tennessee defensive linemen Omari Thomas (21) and lineman Kurott Garland (99) warming up before the NCAA football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and South Alabama Jaguars in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, November 20, 2021.Utvsal1120 /

1. Kurott Garland or Bryson Eason to start alongside Omari Thomas at defensive tackle

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LaTrell Bumphus moving over to defensive end and being a backup leads to the most shocking part of the depth chart for Tennessee football. Kurott Garland and Bryson Eason are the two candidates to fill the void left by Matthew Butler and start alongside Omari Thomas this year.

Elijah Simmons and Da’Jon Terry are still in the mix, but both are situational defensive tackles. Amari McNeill and newcomer Jordan Phillips are also both there. However, it seemed obvious up until the release of the depth chart that Bumphus would be the one to start alongside Thomas while Eason and Garland were the rotational players.

Sure, Bumphus has experience playing defensive end specifically, but he’s a lot bigger now. The expectation was he’d have the same transition that Butler did going from Jeremy Pruitt and Derrick Ansley to Tim Banks, putting on enough weight to move to the middle.

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All of this could obviously change, but Bumphus not being Tennessee football’s penciled in starter at defensive tackle is a huge surprise. He saw tons of action in the middle there last year despite being banged up, and now, fully healthy, he seemed like a favorite even over Thomas. As a result, this is the biggest shocker on the depth chart.

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