I’m not sure any Tennessee Vols assistant coach faced more pressure coming into the season than offensive line coach Glen Elarbee.

The Vols struggled to protect quarterback Nico Iamaleava in 2024 (UT was in the bottom half of the SEC in sacks allowed last season with 30). And coming into this season, Tennessee hadn’t consistently started an offensive lineman that Elarbee signed out of high school.

Whether or not the pressure on Elarbee was fair is debatable. The pressure, however, certainly existed.

Tennessee had one of the best offensive lines in college football in 2025

Elarbee responded to the pressure by helping the Vols’ offensive line perform at a high level in 2025.

Despite replacing four starters and not having elite depth, Tennessee finished the regular season with the 11th best offensive line in the nation, according to The Athletic (the only SEC offensive line ranked higher was Georgia’s at No. 10).

The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner pointed out that Tennessee’s run blocking still needs to improve, but the Vols otherwise had one of the top offensive lines in the sport.

“Tennessee had a tough-luck year, to a degree,” wrote Baumgardner. “The Vols put up 41 against Georgia and lost, gave Oklahoma all it wanted and lost, then ran into a Vanderbilt buzzsaw. Still, this was a group that saw a lot of change heading into 2025 and wound up as one of the nation’s best protection units. The run blocking needs to be better, but Tennessee still ranks as a top-20 team in negative plays allowed and No. 16 in percentage of possible yards gained.”

There may not be a position tougher to coach in college football right now than offensive line. It was already a very developmental position, and with depth being harder than ever to build, it’s forcing many teams to play offensive linemen before they’re probably ready.

Elarbee did a great job of navigating depth issues this season while coaching a new-look offensive line that featured a true freshman right tackle and a transfer addition at center.

It wasn’t perfect, but the Vols’ offensive line played really well for most of the season (though they seemed to run out of steam in the final game against Vanderbilt).

Elarbee has also recruited extremely well, landing five-star offensive lineman David Sanders Jr (the aforementioned freshman starter this fall) during the 2025 recruiting cycle and five-star offensive lineman Gabriel Osenda during the 2026 recruiting cycle.

The high expectations from fans are understandable, but it’s probably wise to have a little grace when it comes to coaching the offensive line these days.

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