Tennessee Position Group Deep Dive - OL

[tsweezy]

Been flying a lot, decided to plan out the future of each position group and planning our program's philosophy and decided to spin it into some media about the past-present-future of Tennessee football. Read on!

 

This is going to be a doozy as I'm just going to do the entire OL in one big grouping instead of splitting it up. 

The molly-whoppers who enable everything else. A bit of an up and down group, the roster has almost completely run out of genned talent, but the recruits are SO slow to progress even though there are boatloads of blue chip talent. Absolutely the weakest part of our offense, and has been every year so far

2021:

C Noah Prater - Jr ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking - Santa Maria, CA - A overall. B IQ, A strength, A pass block, B run block

OT Adrian Richburg - Jr ⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Mobile, AL - B overall. C IQ, A strength, A pass block, C run block

C Emmanuel Matthews - So ⭐⭐⭐, Line Captain - Doylestown, PA - B overall. A IQ, A strength, B pass block, C run block

OT Chris Howard - Jr ⭐⭐, Run Blocking- Normal, IL - B overall. D IQ, A strength, C pass block, B run block

OT Joey Carson - So ⭐⭐⭐, Run Blocking - West Chester, PA - B overall. C IQ, A strength, C pass block, A run block

 

Nothing fancy this year. 4 B overalls and an A overall stuck at LT. Interestingly we didn't really have any OGs worth a damn so glad OOP penalties didn't apply this year.

No stats, but we put Matthews at his natural C position, Prater at LT, and then the run blockers on the right side and ran right as much as possible. Fine strategy I guess. Hard to tell. The offense did good enough without a lot of QB/RB talent so they must have done alright.

 

2022: 

C Noah Prater - Sr ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking - Santa Maria, CA - A overall. B IQ, A+ strength, A+ pass block, B run block

OT Adrian Richburg - Sr ⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Mobile, AL - B+ overall. C+ IQ, B- strength, B pass block, C run block

C Emmanuel Matthews - Jr ⭐⭐⭐, Line Captain - Doylestown, PA - B+ overall. A IQ, B strength, B pass block, C- run block

OT Chris Howard - (Jr) ⭐⭐, Run Blocking- Normal, IL - B overall. D IQ, C strength, C- pass block, B run block

OT Joey Carson - Jr ⭐⭐⭐, Run Blocking - West Chester, PA - B+ overall. B IQ, B- strength, C- pass block, B+ run block

 

An upgraded version of 2021's lineup. Again set the right side as the run maulers for Ynoa. 

Prater was supposed to be a lock down LT, but gave up 10 sacks as a pass blocker. He did record 13 pancakes as well, but an up and down year for him. Mostly attributed it to him being a great C but not quite good enough to stop the elite pass rushers on the edge

Richburg got bullied a little bit too giving up 6 sacks (and recording NO pancakes!). Probably LVP of the line

Joey Carson had an acceptable 5:3 Pancake:sack ratio which is fine when blocking for a statue like freshman Savage.

Matthews was hardly noticeable. No pancakes and 1 sack allowed. Fine performace for a C

Overall the performance was… acceptable. Not many metrics to judge it by

Prater got hyped on the combine circuit and still went first round as the sacks got handwaved away

 

2023:

C Emmanuel Matthews - Sr ⭐⭐⭐, Line Captain - Doylestown, PA - A overall. A+ IQ, A- strength, A- pass block, C run block

OT Joey Carson - Sr ⭐⭐⭐, Run Blocking - West Chester, PA - A overall. A IQ, B+ strength, C pass block, A run block

OT Chris Howard - (Sr) ⭐⭐, Run Blocking- Normal, IL - B+ overall. C- IQ, B- strength, C- pass block, B run block

Jhonatan Perry - (So) ⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking - Odessa, TX - B overall. B- IQ, C strength, B- pass block, C- run block

Myles Hernandez - (Fr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking - Livermore, CA - B overall. C IQ, C strength, B pass block, D run block

 

Well, this was another grab bag. Matthews performed great as expected and could be an early draft pick (jk he went undrafted)

We didn't run enough to pick up good pancake numbers, but Howard really whiffed a lot, giving up 6 sacks to only 5 pancakes

By far the worst performance (as expected) was by redshirt freshman Myles Hernandez. He was fairly close on paper, and having the pass blocker archetype plus trying to build his confidence seemed smart. He might as well have been a matador though. Way too young to be a starting LT in the SEC. 0 pancakes, 9 sacks allowed. At least he got some snaps for progressions

 

2024:

This is going to be tricky. A LOT of serviceable players. Not a lot of experience or star power. Also playing in position matters now which is tough to keep track of

OT:

Myles Hernandez - (So) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking - Livermore, CA - B+ overall. B- IQ, B strength, B+ pass block, C- run block

Jhonatan Perry - (Jr) ⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking - Odessa, TX - B+ overall. B+ IQ, B strength, B pass block, C run block

OG:

Dare Bazata - Sr ⭐⭐⭐, Balanced - Lenoir, NC - B+ overall. B IQ, B strength, B pass block, C+ run block

JJ Bolt  - Sr ⭐⭐, Balanced - Jacksonville, FL - B+ overall. C IQ, B- strength, B- pass block, C+ run block

C :

Garrett Lazard - Jr ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Balanced - Fairfield, TX - B+ overall. B- IQ, B- strength, B pass block, C- run block

Marcus Morrow - (So) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Balanced - Gaithersburg, MD - B overall. C IQ, C strength, C pass block, C run block

 

 

Marcus is not good, but he probably gets the start to avoid the out of position penalties and get some reps. 

There are also 5 other (Fr)/(So) 4-stars with B overalls who are not getting playing time on the OL and might see special teams work

In addition to that, David France (5 star Fr OT) and Charles Le (5 star Fr OG) are good enough right now to be swappable onto the OL. However without being a clear upgrade they'll take a redshirt and push all the other blue chips even further into considering transfer portal

I'm really not sure what to expect. I think the pass blocking will hold up… OK. Especially with Savage's mobility improvements and blocking assistance from Mateo. The run blocking though looks very, very bad. Joe is going to have to make chicken salad out of chicken shit and expect to be constantly met in the backfield

 

2025:

Myles Hernandez - (Jr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking - Ocala, FL - A- overall

Jhonatan Perry - (Sr) ⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking - Ocala, FL - A- overall

David France - (Fr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking - Ocala, FL - A- overall

Garrett Lazard - Sr ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - A- overall

Charles Le - (Fr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - B+ overall

Steven Henry - (Jr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Run Blocking - Ocala, FL - B+ overall

Marcus Morrow - (Jr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Balanced - Ocala, FL - B+ overall

Ricky Drummond - (Jr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Balanced - Ocala, FL - B+ overall

 

EIGHT starting caliber options next year. Just have to figure out the positional configurations but it should be a big step up and be title-run ready (not a strength, but not bad enough to hold us back)

 

2026:

Myles Hernandez - (Sr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - A overall

David France - (So) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - A overall

Charles Le - (So) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - A overall

Steven Henry - (Sr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Run Blocking- Ocala, FL - A- overall

Marcus Morrow - (Sr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Balanced - Ocala, FL - A-/A overall

Ricky Drummond - (Sr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Balanced- Ocala, FL - A- overall

James Hilton - (Jr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - B+/A- overall

Nicholas Crosby - (Jr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - B+ overall

Jason Bush - (Jr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Run Blocking - Ocala, FL - B+ overall

 

so this will be an amazing year to transition JOC into. Everybody on this line should be absolutely fearsome in their own right and we'll expect to have a backup line that could start at 90% of schools

 

2027:

David France - (Jr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - A overall

Charles Le - (Jr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - A overall

James Hilton - (Sr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - A-/A overall

Nicholas Crosby - (Sr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Pass Blocking- Ocala, FL - A-/A overall

Jason Bush - (Sr) ⭐⭐⭐⭐, Run Blocking- Ocala, FL - A- overall

Another lineup that isn't as all-world as 2026, and doesn't feature a true center per se. They will absolutely knock it out of the park though and still be upper tier elite guys for title run #2