KNOXVILLE -- The player lining up to Kyler Kerbyson's right seemingly has changed every practice.
Or at least that's probably how it's felt this preseason for Tennessee's left tackle.
The fifth-year senior quietly has been a rock on an offensive line that's seen multiple players roll in and out of the first-team lineup this month due to two season-ending injuries and a few minor ones.
With the season opener less than two weeks away and game preparations set to begin this week, Kerbyson and the Volunteers are hopeful they can settle in on a solid starting five as quickly as possible.
"It is tough. It's definitely tough," Kerbyson said after Tennessee's situational scrimmage at Neyland Stadium on a sunny Saturday afternoon. "As an O-lineman, you want to have connections with people, and it is hard to switch people around. It's hard to switch positions. But you've got to take it in stride.
"It might happen. Last year, we played with eight linemen. Eight different linemen started. It wasn't five the whole year. Sometimes stuff is going to switch around. You can't dwell on it. You can't be negative. You've got to be positive."
Tennessee's guard positions have been in flux since starting left guard Marcus Jackson was lost for the season a week into preseason practice. Since then, Jashon Robertson and Jack Jones, both potential starters at guard, have been in and out of practice. Austin Sanders was lost for the season earlier this week after suffering a similar biceps injury to Jackson's.
UT's Kyler Kerbyson, standing, checks on Von Pearson after he was injured in the first half of the game against Arkansas State at Neyland Stadium.Brett Kendrick, who came out of spring practice as the Vols' first-team right tackle, and redshirt freshman Charles Mosley have gotten work next to Kerbyson in recent weeks as the coaches' hunt for the starting five and best eight linemen has been interrupted by the injuries.
"The offensive linemen, they definitely have a dynamic room where they have guys pushing each other to get better every day, pushing each other to be great," quarterback Josh Dobbs said. "We had a couple of injuries and guys (have been) stepping up and really working hard to get better every day. It's great to see that out of the O-linemen group.
"I definitely trust them and I'm definitely excited to see what they're going to do this year."
Amid all the shuffling up front, Kerbyson's status hasn't changed. The coaching staff seems more confident in him than any other position on the line other than where Robertson is playing. After playing all over the line throughout his career, Kerbyson has been focused completely on left tackle all offseason, and it's helped him.
"He would be the first to tell you he's benefited from that," head coach Butch Jones said.
"He gained the valuable live game repetitions last year, but now being at left tackle, he's really, really worked on owning his technique, he's worked on owning his conditioning and really understanding body language and different stances and schemes of the defense and defensive fronts and blitz patterns.
"He's not even the same player."
That's good news for Tennessee's offensive line.
The Vols struggled at tackle last season, and Kerbyson was a part of those struggles. Many thought he was playing out of position, and he admitted he wasn't the prototypical tackle. The thought was he was better suited at guard.
He's looked like a tackle this preseason, though, by more than holding his own against defensive ends Curt Maggitt and Derek Barnett, who combined for 21 sacks last season.
"Being able to stay at tackle and go against Curt and Barnett has made me a better player, too," Kerbyson said. "Those guys are really, really, good. It makes me better in run-blocking and pass sets and smarts. It really does. It makes me a better player overall.
"I've done pretty well, so that gives me a lot of confidence going into the season, being able to block those guys."
Kerbyson said he's 14-3 in one-on-one matchups against Barnett and Maggitt, who disputed that mark.
"I don't remind them," Kerbyson joked. "They'd probably get really mad, then turn it up a little bit more. I'm a little bit smarter than that."
The concerns surrounding Tennessee's offensive line have been exacerbated by the preseason injuries, but the Vols have been able to count on Kerbyson, and they expect that to continue.
"We've got guys that's hungry, guys that want to protect Dobbs and don't want Dobbs to get touched," Maggitt said. "That's all we need. Kerbyson, Mack (Crowder), Jashon - they're going to make sure that unit's good."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.