There are quite a few fans and analysts right now who want to see Tennessee move on from Vols offensive line coach Glen Elarbee after the program gave up 10 sacks to Texas last Saturday in Neyland Stadium.

I get it. That’s the natural reaction anytime a position unit has a terrible game. But I don’t know if that’s a fair thing to call for right now.

And look, I’m not here to say that Elarbee should or shouldn’t be fired. I think it’s a far more complex situation than just saying, “Hey, the offensive line had a bad game, let’s fire this guy.”

Why did they have a bad game? How much was on the quarterback? Was it a scheme issue? Was it effort? Was it a poor job preparation by the coach? Is it a talent issue?

I don’t know if the poor offensive line play against Texas is completely on Elarbee or not. That’s something that Vols head coach Josh Heupel will have to evaluate (he knows the situation better than anyone else — certainly better than all the YouTube film analysts who don’t know the playcalls, assignments, etc).

What I do know, though, is that offensive line play across the sport in general is in a rough place right now.

Offensive line is a very developmental position. And development has been put on the backburner over the last several years thanks to the rise of the NIL/transfer portal era.

Programs aren’t able to build depth anymore. If a talented player isn’t playing, they often hit the portal. Teams are forced to bring in transfer replacements, and those players may not pick up the scheme immediately. It’s probably the toughest position in college football, outside of quarterback, to coach right now.

When you combine the transfer portal era with the fact that teams often aren’t practicing with as much hitting as they did in the past, it’s easy to understand why offensive line development is in such a rough place right now.

ESPN’s Cole Cubelic, a former Auburn offensive lineman, joined The Tony Basilio Show this week and explained it perfectly.

“To be a great offensive lineman, you have to do it full speed against people that are trying to make you look bad on a consistent basis,” said Cubelic. “To be a great offensive line, you have to do it at full speed together against people trying to make you look bad on a consistent basis. We have removed a large portion of full-contact practices, in which that piece of the development is most important at that position. And we have allowed escape routes (the portal) for the continuity to be as bad as it’s ever been. You put those things together, and you’re going to have a hard time developing great offensive linemen or great offensive lines.”

“We’re not talking about these guys being together for three or four or five years anymore,” added Cubelic. “My senior year at Auburn, we had three of our starting offensive linemen that came in together in the same recruiting class. The other two were a year behind me, so that was four and five years that we had been together. That’s rare this day and age. You’ve got to have continuity. You’ve got to have chemistry. And with where the defenses are going, you better have recognition of getting some things that you haven’t seen in practice. That only comes with that continuity, chemistry, and togetherness that I’ve referenced before.”

As for whether Tennessee should fire Elarbee?

Well, Cubelic doesn’t think that’s the answer.

“Just because you have one bad game, doesn’t mean you’re a bad offensive line,” said Cubelic. “… I think [Elarbee] is great. I think he understands the scheme and the system. I think he gets his guys to play hard.

“One of the things I’ll say about Tennessee, whether they’re getting beat one-on-one in pass pro or whether they have guys that whiff on a block — now they have some missed assignments that are kind of unacceptable, but they’ve got a little bit of a revolving door on the right side, so I think that’s some of the reason that this is happening — but there are not a lot of groups in the SEC or around college football that consistently play harder than Tennessee. And I’ll take that. If you have people that are starting that conversation, I would reference maybe finding some people to come in and help [Elarbee] as opposed to saying you better go find a replacement for him.”

What happens if Tennessee fires Glen Elarbee?

Let’s say Tennessee fires Elarbee. Then what?

Heupel would have to go find an offensive line coach who gels with the rest of the staff and is bought-in to Tennessee’s offensive scheme. Maybe there are good options who would make sense, but I don’t know if that’s the case (just because someone makes sense because of their Wikipedia page doesn’t mean they’re a good fit in reality).

And then there’s the recruiting aspect. If Tennessee moves on from Elarbee, then every offensive lineman on the roster will be a transfer risk. And I understand that there’s going to be some roster turnover at that position regardless, but you don’t really know what the personnel situation would be if the Vols made a coaching change. It’s possible Tennessee could lose talent and then miss on portal targets and be even worse off personnel-wise. Maybe that doesn’t happen, but it’s certainly a possibility.

Again, I’m not saying Elarbee should or shouldn’t be fired. That’s something people in building and in the room have to figure out.

But I do think some fans need to understand that offensive line play is just really inconsistent across the sport right now and there’s no easy fix.

Now, the Vols’ offensive line definitely has to play better going forward. There’s no question about that. For now, though, I think fans should leave the fire Elarbee talk behind — that can be addressed at the end of the season — and simply root for Tennessee’s offensive line to play better.

The Vols will take the field against Auburn on Saturday, and the hope is that Tennessee’s offensive line shows some progress.

I don’t know what the result will be on Saturday, but I guarantee you that Tennessee’s offensive line will play better if they feel like Vol Nation is behind them and in the fight with them, instead of telling them they suck or expecting them to fail.