Josh Heupel addresses the Tennessee Vols' biggest concern for the 2025 college football season
The Tennessee Vols, like every other college football program in the nation, are hoping to figure out during spring practice how to be the best versions of themselves in 2025 For the Vols, that means (hopefully) figuring out how the offensive line is going to look in the fall. Tennessee's only returning starting offensive lineman […]
The Tennessee Vols, like every other college football program in the nation, are hoping to figure out during spring practice how to be the best versions of themselves in 2025
For the Vols, that means (hopefully) figuring out how the offensive line is going to look in the fall.
Tennessee's only returning starting offensive lineman in 2025 is left tackle Lance Heard, who joined the program in 2024 after transferring from LSU.
The Vols will have four new starters along their offensive line in 2025. In a perfect world, Tennessee exits spring practice next month with some confidence that the offensive line will play at an elite level when the season gets underway on August 30.
Tennessee will rely on a mix of youth and experience along their new-look offensive line in 2025. The Vols added a couple of key players via the portal in Arizona transfer Wendell Moe and Notre Dame transfer Sam Pendleton. Five-star true freshman David Sanders Jr is expected to be an immediate starter. And other players the Vols signed out of high school in recent years — such as William Satterwhite, Max Anderson, and Nic Moore — will get a chance to fight for a starting spot, too.
On Friday, Vols head coach Josh Heupel spoke to reporters after Tennessee's first spring practice.
The fifth-year Tennessee head coach was asked how he feels about UT's offensive line after losing so much experience from last year's squad.
"[I] like what we’ve done inside of that room," said Heupel. "The portal additions that have experience and years in college football. Body types that we like. Both smart guys (Moe and Pendleton) as far as their ability to process information at the O-line position. I’m excited, once we get to the pads, you tend to find out a whole lot more about the guys up front. It becomes real football, but really excited about them. The young players that we’ve added over the last couple of cycles inside of that position room, really excited about their growth and development.
"Physically, there’s still a lot of that left out there for them as we continue to grow through our offseason before we kick off or get to training camp. Excited to see them grow on the football field — fundamentally in technique."
“That’s the great thing about college football too, is your roster changes," added Heupel. "It’s exciting to have young guys that got to grow into it and take control and battle and fight and find out who’s going to be ready to play at a championship level.”
Heupel was also asked about Sanders, who is the favorite to start at right tackle as a true freshman in 2025.
"Super smart kid that's very engaging, very personable," said Heupel in response to a question about Sanders. "He has a great family. Cares about the guys around him. He’s had great work habits since he arrived, continued to grow. There’s a lot of growth for him and every young guy that has come onto our roster. He’s put on weight, got to continue to do that, continue to grow into his frame. But he’s got great athleticism.”
In a perfect world, Tennessee exits spring practice with a healthy group at offensive line and a firm starting lineup. Heard and Sanders at the tackle positions with Moe and Pendleton at guard and Satterwhite at center feels like the most likely starting offensive line combination for the Vols in 2025.
We'll see if that's how it actually plays out as we inch closer to the 2025 season.
