Tennessee offensive lineman Jesse Perry is gearing up for his second season on Rocky Top in a big way.
Literally.
While playing in four games during his true freshman season and through offseason workouts ahead of the 2025 season, Perry has transformed his body in order to better stack up against the fierce competition of the SEC.
As a three-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, Perry’s 247Sports profile listed him at 260 pounds. While speaking with the media on Tuesday, he mentioned that he was hovering around 270 pounds early into his Tennessee career.
But now, heading into his redshirt freshman season this fall, the Tennessee native is up to north of 300 pounds.
“I’m at about 320 (pounds) right now,” Perry said during an interview. “Yeah, it’s almost 50 pounds since I got here.”
While he says he doesn’t have any specific diet, he did mention things like getting double protein, double carbs, and even making sure he has a fruit smoothie every now and then with his meals.
“It was surprising,” Perry said about adding the extra weight since his arrival. “When you’re 270 as a freshman, you’re like, man, I don’t know that I’m going to be able to put on that much weight. But then you’ve just got to trust the nutrition and the strength staff and they’ll help you get there real easy.”
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The added weight is helping the second year lineman with his game on the field, and it’s something he sees on a daily basis going through fall camp.
“Yeah, definitely,” Perry said about seeing an advantage with his size. He mentions that he can feel extra weight when going up against some of Tennessee’s bigger defensive linemen on the practice field, specifically in the run game.
With four departing starters from the offensive line last season, Perry is looking to earn a role with this year’s starting five. He said on Tuesday that while he is working some at the tackle position, he’s primarily been working at offensive guard.
“Really been working hard with my footwork,” Perry said about the work at guard. “The footwork changes at guard from tackle. And then, like, tight hands. That’s really the most important thing in my opinion. I’ve been working on that all offseason and during camp. It shows up in my run game, for sure.”
Tennessee offensive line coach Glen Elarbee gave extremely high praise for Perry while speaking to the media on Tuesday morning.
“Yeah, Jesse does everything right,” Elarbee said. “Absolutely everything. From eating habits, recovery, film study, coaching other players. That’s the reason he puts himself in positions that he’s at. He gets his body — his body has changed so much since he’s been here. He’s highly intellectual, so he studies the crap out of everything. That’s what he does. Like you say, what is it? Man, it’s everything. Yeah, you don’t want to say anybody’s perfect, but he’s pretty close to doing everything right.”
Check out Jesse Perry’s full interview with the local media from UT fall camp on Tuesday in Knoxville:
