A player that Tennessee lost to the NCAA transfer portal last offseason would be a welcome sight on Rocky Top right about now.

The Vols’ biggest issue through the first four games of the season has been the offensive line.

Tennessee gave up 10 sacks in a 20-17 loss to Texas last weekend. The inability to block the Longhorns’ defensive line prevented true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon from ever finding any kind of rhythm. It was arguably the worst offensive line performance we’ve seen from the Vols during the Josh Heupel era.

There were several reasons for the poor showing — lack of communication, scheme, etc. — but the biggest issue might be personnel.

Tennessee’s starting right guard is supposed to be Jesse Perry, but he had to move out to right tackle because LSU transfer offensive tackle Ory Williams hasn’t panned out as expected.

Playing Perry at right tackle has resulted in Sham Umarov playing significant snaps at right guard.

And Umarov has struggled mightily at times.

For now, it looks like the Vols whiffed on Williams (there’s a lot of season left, so maybe he’ll turn things around). And it makes it even more evident that Tennessee should’ve found a way to keep Lance Heard on the roster.

Heard, who started at left tackle for the Vols in 2025, transferred to Kentucky in January. He’s currently projected by CBS Sports as a first-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.

Why wasn’t Tennessee able to keep Lance Heard?

There’s no question that Tennessee’s offensive line would be better with Heard.

But Tennessee wasn’t able to keep Heard because he didn’t necessarily want to move to right tackle to accommodate David Sanders Jr moving to left tackle in 2026 (Sanders played right tackle as a true freshman in 2025).

As a result, Heard’s agent reportedly asked for a “gargantuan” amount of money.

“Lance Heard had a really good solid year,” said VolQuest’s Austin Price last January. “His agent asked for a gargantuan amount of money, and Tennessee was not willing to do that. They liked the growth that David Sanders had over the last month and a half of the season, and how he played in the bowl game. And they liked what Jesse Perry brought them at right tackle early in the year. And so Tennessee felt good enough to where they were like, ‘Okay, Lance, we like you at this [price], but we don’t like you at this amount of money.’ And so they decided to part ways. That’s part of the new business model that is college athletics.”

I think Tennessee may have learned a tough lesson on this one. They should’ve paid the “gargantuan” amount of money to keep Heard.

Because here’s the thing: teams are going to have to start overpaying for right tackles if they want an elite player at that position. Every offensive lineman wants to be a left tackle, but right tackle is just as important with all of the different pressures that defenses bring in college football these days. If teams don’t overpay for a transfer right tackle, then they’re probably just landing a player who wasn’t good enough to start at left tackle and converting him to right tackle — which is not a recipe for success (that was exactly the situation with Ory Williams, who started just two games during his two seasons at LSU).

The only other solution is for teams to develop a right tackle, and we haven’t seen Vols offensive line coach Glen Elarbee have much success developing offensive linemen in general, so that isn’t exactly the best option for Tennessee.

(Something else to consider, since Sanders has struggled some early this season at left tackle — maybe the Vols should’ve kept Sanders at right tackle one more season and let Heard stay at left tackle in 2026.)

Tennessee needs to get serious about putting an elite offensive line on the field. To this point, it’s the weak link on a team with a $35-million plus roster.