“The guys that are going to prove that they’re going to play at a really high level that we have great trust in, those guys deserve the opportunity to play and I anticipate us at this point continuing to rotate guys,” Heupel said.
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The other OR removed from Tennessee’s offensive depth chart is at running back where Tennessee now lists Jaylen Wright as the full time starter, Jabari Small as the backup and Dylan Sampson as the third stringer.
There’s one true new starter on Tennessee’s defensive depth chart and it’s due to injury. With Keenan Pili indefinitely sidelined with an injury, Tennessee removed him from the depth chart and inserted Elijah Herring as the new starting Mike linebacker with freshman Jeremiah Telander as his backup.
James Pearce Jr. is now the lone backup LEO with Josh Josephs as the third string and Caleb Herring as the fourth string.
Tennessee still lists co-starters at defensive end (Tyler Baron and Dominic Bailey), defensive tackle (Omarr Norman-Lott and Bryson Eason) and both cornerback spots (Kamal Hadden and Warren Burrell as well as Doneiko Slaughter and Gabe Jeudy-Lally).
Josh Heupel’s third SEC team opens up SEC play Saturday night at Florida. Kickoff between the Vols and Gators is at 7 p.m. ET. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe are on the call for ESPN.
Couple ORs removed from Tennessee football’s depth chart.
Elijah Herring locked in as a starter with freshman Jeremiah Telander as his backup while Keenan Pili is sidelined.@rockytopinsider pic.twitter.com/JSLMmSYNKQ
— Ryan Schumpert (@rschump00) September 11, 2023
