‘I said it first day, every day’ — Tennessee coach addresses primary factor for Vols’ 2025 late-season collapse
One unit fell off in the second half of the 2025 season, and they’re working to avoid that happening again in 2026.
The Tennessee Vols’ 2025 season had its ups and downs. However, the team faded down the stretch, particularly in big November home games against Oklahoma and Vanderbilt and in the Music City Bowl against Illinois. While there are a number of reasons for Tennessee’s decline, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, the Vols’ offense also inherits a sizable portion of the blame.
One of the main factors in the offensive decline was an offensive line that found its play deteriorating over the latter half of the season. A lack of endurance down the stretch is something Tennessee offensive line coach Glen Elarbee addressed on Tuesday at his press conference.
Tennessee OL coach Glen Elarbee says OL ‘wilted’ in second half of the 2025 season
“I think our fuel tank needed to be longer,” Elarbee said. “I said it first day, every day, we weren’t unbelievable the first six games, but I thought we were solid and I just thought we wilted that last half. We just couldn’t sustain and that’s been the emphasis. Every day you walk off the practice field you want to be at the point where they almost have to carry you off. We’re trying to build our gas tank. DO (Derek Owings) has done a great job with his part of it and now it’s us just dripping ourselves every single day so that when we get halfway through the season, it’s nothing, we can go finish and hammer the way we need to.”
Tennessee now has the perfect man in the building to help accomplish that goal in strength and conditioning coach Derek Owings, who helped turn Indiana into a machine last season.
But while there certainly appears to have been an improvement on the physical side of the roster this offseason, Tennessee is going to have to figure out how to maintain a mental edge and toughness across four quarters for 13-plus games in addition to being better conditioned physically. That mental component could prove just as important as the physical gains when the Vols face the grind of SEC play.
Bottom line: there is no doubt that as far as the physical aspect, Tennessee appears primed to take a step forward in 2026 from where the Vols were at the end of the 2025 season. Whether that translates to a sustained competitive performance into November and beyond remains to be seen.
