Tennessee football: Five key Vols to watch for against Ball State

Openings can be underwhelming at times if you face the wrong team. When Tennessee football kicks off against the Ball State Cardinals Thursday night to begin 2022, all the talk will be about Josh Heupel’s offense and how many points the Vols will score through the air. It makes sense to look at the personnel and draw that conclusion.

However, as we got to looking at the players who would be key in this game, it became pretty clear that the catalysts would often be in the trenches. Given Ball State’s personnel, some of the more physical players will be the most crucial to making sure the Vols do what they need to do.

Of course, this is pure speculation. Ball State enters the year with so much new talent everywhere we don’t exactly know what to make of them. Still, they won the MAC two years ago and went 6-7 last year, so Mike Neu has a program on the rise. Here are who Tennessee football’s five most important players will be against them.

6’4″ 320 pounds

Ball State averaged under four yards a carry last year, and they lose both guards. However, they return Carson Steele, their primary running back. Also, while they are breaking in a new quarterback in John Paddock, they return both tackles. As a result, they have the blockers to stop a pass rush and the running back to generate some offense.

The key to stopping both aspects will be what the Vols do in the middle. Omari Thomas has played every game since arriving on Rocky Top and is destined for a breakout year now with Matthew Butler gone. He is the man tasked with anchoring the interior of the defensive line.

If Tennessee football wants to shut down any chance Ball State has of making this interesting, they need Thomas to get a push. That would help the elite pass rushers, Byron Young and Tyler Baron, so the issues in the secondary aren’t exposed. It would also snuff out anything Steele might do running the ball, making Thomas key.