An important decision that Josh Heupel made during the offseason is paying off for the Tennessee Vols in 2024
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel was forced to replace a member of his defensive coaching staff this past offseason for the first time since he took over as UT's head coach in early 2021. Brian Jean-Mary served as the Vols' linebackers coach from 2021 to 2023. He left Tennessee after the 2023 season to […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel was forced to replace a member of his defensive coaching staff this past offseason for the first time since he took over as UT's head coach in early 2021.
Brian Jean-Mary served as the Vols' linebackers coach from 2021 to 2023. He left Tennessee after the 2023 season to join Sherrone Moore's coaching staff at Michigan.
No one was happy to see Jean-Mary leave Tennessee — he did a good job coaching linebackers — but once he made the decision to leave, Heupel and defensive coordinator Tim Banks had to find a replacement.
They settled on William Inge, who had previously served as the Washington Huskies' linebackers coach/co-defensive coordinator.
Inge has fit seamlessly into Tennessee's culture. And his on-field results have been pretty good, too.
Tennessee's linebackers have played well, despite losing starter Keenan Pili to a torn ACL after the Vols' win against the Florida Gators last month.
Sophomore linebacker Arion Carter, who is still relatively new to the position, leads the Vols with 43 tackles (he also had 4.5 tackles for loss).
Redshirt freshman linebacker Jalen Smith, a former three-star recruit, had the best game of his young career in the Vols' win against Kentucky this past weekend, totaling a career high nine tackles while playing 34 snaps (he was also UT's highest-graded linebacker with a 78.3 PFF grade).
Sophomore Jeremiah Telander and junior Kalib Perry have also played well for Tennessee while seeing important snaps for one of the best defenses in college football.
There's clearly some important development happening at the linebacker position under Inge. Not only are young linebackers seeing the field for the Vols, but they're playing extremely well, too.
It seems like Heupel and Banks nailed it when they hired Inge.
Jean-Mary did a great job with the linebackers at Tennessee, but Inge is taking things to the next level this season.
