Tennessee first-year linebackers coach William Inge is happy with who he's working with this spring.
He's extremely excited about who he'll have come preseason camp.
The Volunteers have worked in recent weeks without sophomore Arion Carter, junior Elijah Herring and graduate transfer Keenan Pili at full strength. Tennessee held its 11th spring workout Tuesday morning as Saturday afternoon's Orange & White Game inside Neyland Stadium looms.
Carter played in eight games last year before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in the 33-27 win at Kentucky in late October. The 6-foot-1, 230-pounder from the Nashville suburb of Smyrna was getting significant snaps each week and had amassed 17 tackles and a tackle for loss.
"When you hear Arion on the sidelines, you can tell he understands football and knows some of the schematic things that we want," Inge said Tuesday in a news conference. "When you see him move — we look at some of our player speeds and loads, and he's always one of the top guys from a movement standpoint, so we know we're going to get someone back who is probably even faster than all the guys currently in the room.
"He is the one guy in the morning who is coming in trying to get a head start on what's going on that day. It's awesome, and he is exactly the kind of guy you want in your program."
Herring stayed healthy enough to play in all 13 of Tennessee's games during a 9-4 season that culminated with a blowout of Iowa in the Citrus Bowl. The 6-3, 230-pounder from the Atlanta suburb of Newnan was thrust into more action when Pili went down in the opener against Virginia with a biceps injury, and he wound up leading the Vols with 80 tackles.
Though he underwent a shoulder procedure right after the bowl, Herring is also not an out-of-sight, out-of-mind situation.
"It's the same thing with Elijah," Inge said. "We want to make sure we're great teachers, so when they're in the meeting, there are times we will let them run the meeting. When I can hear Elijah talk about some of the things from that day's install, I can help him and also see where he is learning.
"We can't wait to get him back, either, because he's one of those guys who has a lot of sweat equity. He's been out on the battlefield."
The unquestioned leader of the linebacker room is Pili, a 6-3, 240-pounder from Las Vegas who signed with Brigham Young in 2016. Pili served a two-year mission through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and missed the 2017-18 seasons, and he received a seventh season of eligibility after playing just three games for BYU in 2021 and the one game with the Vols last year.
Pili turns 26 next month and will play his final college season with a nickname that comes as no surprise.
"Keenan is exactly what you want from a leadership standpoint," Inge said, "and he's one of those linebackers who can run fast and hit hard. He does everything you want a linebacker to do, and you combine that with him kind of being 'Uncle Grandpa,' and it's awesome."
Said Pili: "I've accepted that role, and I just laugh about it. I'm older, and we have a heavily young-sided room. It's funny seeing those dynamics."
Sizzling Spillman
Tennessee added two players right at the start of spring practice when the Lipscomb Academy duo of cornerback Kaleb Beasley and linebacker Edwin Spillman arrived.
Beasley sustained a fractured fibula in his second practice and has been out since, but Spillman apparently has impressed.
"As a young player, when you come in right as spring ball is starting, you're drinking from a fire hose," Inge said. "I was trying to turn it down, but it was still going all over the place and he couldn't even see. As you got from one day to the next day, you could just see him continuing to take steps. He is going to be someone everybody is going to know about here in five months."
Said Pili: "You wouldn't think he's a freshman, and he just got here. He just doesn't look like he came out of high school. He looks the part."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.