Tennessee football is a week into its fall practice and will put on full pads for the first time on Wednesday morning following one more practice in shells Tuesday.
The first week of camp allowed us to get our first look at a number of position battles. We will continue to monitor the quarterback competition that is understandably dominating the talk this preseason. But there’s a handful of other position battles to track during camp.
Here’s four position battles that most intrigue me.
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Safety
Andre Turrentine will start for Tennessee at one safety spot but the other spot is up in the air. A number of contenders like Jakobe Thomas and John Slaughter entered the transfer portal after the spring transfer window leaving Kaleb Beasley and Edrees Farooq as the top contenders to start beside Turrentine.
Beasley has made series gains in the weight room over the offseason and looks much more like an SEC safety than the lanky freshman corner he was a season ago. Farooq was well built as a freshman and flashed his ability to make plays against the run in his limited playing time a season ago.
My belief is that Farooq has the highest ceiling but Beasley could be the more steady option with his strong ball skills. Tennessee has not rotated much at safety under Tim Banks. Could that change this year? I’m intrigued by this position battle.
Center
For the first time in Josh Heupel’s tenure, Cooper Mays will not be Tennessee’s starting center. William Satterwhite, Max Anderson and Sam Pendleton have been the main trio working at center so far in camp.
Pendleton mostly played guard at Notre Dame but also has the ability to play center. Satterwhite seems to be slightly ahead of Anderson but also was not on the practice field Sunday during the open portions of practice. This feels like a three-person competition with Satterwhite and Pendleton as the top options.
With a new starting quarterback, the starting center spot is all the important. This is worth watching.
Guard
Arizona transfer Wendell Moe will start at one of the guard spots. But he’s repped at both left and right guard over the first week of fall camp so it’s uncertain which spot it will be at.
The center competition directly impacts this one. If Pendleton ends up starting at center then Sham Umarov becomes the obvious candidate to start at guard. If Satterwhite or Anderson win the center job, Pendleton could be tough to beat at guard.
Defensive Tackle
There’s two layers to Tennessee’s defensive tackle competition. The Vols have three clear top defensive tackles— Bryson Eason, Jaxson Moi and Daevin Hobbs. Which of those two will start? Eason seems like a safe bet as the one returning starter in the bunch.
But what about Moi and Hobbs? Moi has been going through drills at the front of the line, but Hobbs looks really good entering his junior year. Either way, all three will play a ton of snaps. The bigger question to me is who emerges as Tennessee’s fourth defensive tackle?
The answer is much less obvious. Tennessee added Josh Schnell out of the portal in the spring but I’m skeptical that he’s going to earn a key role for this team. Just does not look like a SEC defensive tackle. Jamal Wallace seems like the most obvious candidate but I wouldn’t rule out freshmen Ethan Utley or Isaiah Campbell.
