Josh Heupel clearly feels a certain way about Tennessee’s offensive line after the first 3 games of the season
The Tennessee Volunteers’ offensive line has faced some tough criticism early this season.
Tennessee’s offensive line has been the most heavily criticized position group for the Vols during the program’s 3-0 start to the season.
That seems crazy considering true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon has been sacked just three times and the Volunteers are averaging nearly 300 rushing yards per game.
But stats can often be misleading, and there have been a few rough moments on film for Tennessee’s offensive line.
When fans see a player get beat up front and all of a sudden there are multiple defenders blowing up a run play or chasing the quarterback from the pocket, it tends to stick out more than other mistakes that are made during the course of a game.
But Vols head coach Josh Heupel, despite those rough moments — no offensive line in the country wins every rep — likes how his offensive line has played entering SEC play, though he noted on Monday that the competition will get kicked up a notch this weekend against Texas.
“It’s not going to be perfect up front, but all in all, it’s been solid,” said Heupel during his weekly press conference. “But this (Texas) will be our biggest test as far as the front seven that we play.”
“They’re playing physical,” added Heupel of his offensive line. “There’s things that haven’t been perfect, but they’re playing hard.”
The right side of Tennessee’s offensive line, specifically, has borne the brunt of the criticism.
Jesse Perry, who is probably best at right guard, has been forced to play right tackle due to LSU transfer Ory Williams not stepping up and taking that job. Sham Umarov and Donovan Haslam have split reps at right guard (with Umarov playing the majority of the snaps so far).
Interestingly, Heupel took a moment during his appearance on Monday on The Mike Keith Show to shout out the right side of the offensive line.
Heupel pointed out blocks by Perry and Umarov, as well as tight end DaSaahn Brame, on Daune Morris’ 42-yard touchdown run in the second half of Tennessee’s win against Kennesaw State.
“It starts up front,” said Heupel of what went right on Morris’ touchdown run. “The right guard and the right tackle do a great job of sealing it up. … And then DaSaahn Brame on the backside cleaning it up.”
Tennessee’s offensive line certainly has room to improve, and we’ll see just how good that unit is against Texas, but it hasn’t been nearly as bad as some fans and media have made it out to be.
ESPN’s Cole Cubelic, in fact, thinks the Vols’ offensive line has been one of the most consistent in the SEC.
“I understand the frustration with certain aspects of the offensive line,” said Cubelic on The RTI Low-Down. “They’ve got to get right guard figured out. There are a couple of breakdowns in protection still. But I was talking to a Tennessee staffer before the game, and I said, ‘You realize you guys have probably had the most consistent offensive line in the league so far,’ and he was really surprised.
“And I was like, ‘Listen, man, Georgia’s group did not look good last week. Alabama’s group has been up and down — they’ve had some good points and they’ve had some bad points. Florida’s group is kind of coming along, but they haven’t been great by any stretch of the imagination. The Texas A&M group does not look good. Kentucky looked great in the first half against Bama, but terrible in the second half against Bama.’ They’ve all kind of been this roller coaster this year. And even though Tennessee’s had some deficiencies, it’s been about as consistent as anybody else in the league.”
Again, Tennessee will get its first true test against Texas on Saturday. The Vols’ offensive line, though, isn’t a weakness like many think it is.
