Josh Heupel provided a short, optimistic update on three Tennessee players who did not participate in/finish the Vols’ win over Texas A&M over the weekend.
Heupel was asked where DT Omarr Norman-Lott, RT Gerald Mincey, and DT Daevin Hobbs stood entering Alabama week:
“Believe all those guys will be ready as we go through this week,” Heupel said on Monday. “Anticipate those guys being ready to go.”
Norman-Lott was the only one out of the three players mentioned above who was inactive from the start of the game. The transfer defensive lineman has been critical to the Vols’ defensive line, though.
Through the first five games that Tennessee played this season, Norman-Lott was the highest-graded defensive tackle and the fifth-highest defensive player overall on the Vols’ roster with a 77.5 grade from Pro Football Focus. The junior from California spent the first three years of his college career playing for Arizona State before transferring to Tennessee this past offseason and credits Tennessee veteran defensive lineman Omari Thomas for helping smooth the transition.
“He’s helped me a lot, honestly,” Norman-Lott said of Thomas in early September. “When I’m not too sure as far as like early in camp, spring camp, he helped me a lot when I just wasn’t too sure with where to be, as far as alignment and just learning the defense. I would say he helped me a lot, just being comfortable with the defense.”
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Gerald Mincey and Jeremiah Crawford have split reps at right tackle throughout the season but Mincey has been the more reliable player at that position by a good bit. Crawford ended up playing right tackle for the entirety of the Florida game following a citation that Mincey received the week before the game.
Mincey once again came off the bench in the Vols’ Week 4 game but started the following games against both South Carolina and Texas A&M. Mincey left the game against the Aggies early with a lower-body injury, per the Tennessee radio broadcast.
Freshman defensive tackle Daevin Hobbs was thrust into action early into his career with on-field snaps against Virginia, Austin Peay, and UTSA. Hobbs did not play against Florida, South Carolina, and Texas A&M. The freshman has racked up eight total tackles on 78 snaps so far this season.
Having a full platoon of defensive linemen will be a key to victory for the Vols this upcoming week at No. 11 Alabama. The Volunteers are third in the country with 24 sacks through the first six games of their schedule. The Tide, meanwhile, has given up 31 sacks on the season, which ranks as the 126th among FBS teams. This is definitely an advantage that Tennessee can look to exploit with the array of quality linemen that they have.
As always, the status of all three players could change by the end of the week and Tennessee is known to officially make game-playing decisions on Friday and Saturday of game week. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more on Tennessee’s banged-up players throughout the week.
No. 11 Alabama will host No. 17 Tennessee this weekend at 3:30 p.m. ET in Tuscaloosa.
