KNOXVILLE - Just a month after undergoing knee surgery, Tennessee offensive lineman Chance Hall is back on the football field.
Well, almost.
The 6-foot-4 veteran tackle worked through conditioning drills with Tennessee's strength staff on the side during a portion of Tuesday's practice open to the media at Haslam Field.
Chance Hall is among the Tennessee offensive lineman who will be limited or not participate at all in spring practices, which begin for the Vols on Tuesday.Though Hall still has a lengthy rehabilitation process ahead, the fact that he is in uniform and working out is a good sign for a Volunteers squad that has been woefully thin on the offensive line during spring practices.
"I think Chance is adamant," Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt said. "He's fired up about having an opportunity to get back out there, which is good to see. We need him back."
Having a healthy Hall for the 2018 season would be a major boost to the line, which was decimated with injuries and attrition in 2017. Hall, who has started 13 games in an injury-plagued career, missed all of last season with a knee injury suffered early in preseason practice. Though he is expected to be eligible for a medical redshirt season, he is listed as a senior on Tennessee's roster for the time being.
Hall missed his senior season at Northside High School in Roanoke, Va., in 2014 with a torn Achilles' tendon but still started seven games for the Vols at left tackle as a true freshman in 2015. He battled through injuries to start six games at right tackle in 2016.
"Chance wants to play," Pruitt said. "It's kind of unusual - when I first got here, him and I had a conversation. For him, it's been a while since he has played. And I didn't really know his story."
If Hall is healthy enough to play when Tennessee opens the 2018 season against West Virginia, the position he mans likely will be determined at least partially by the status of Trey Smith. Smith, who projects long-term as a left tackle, continues to perform conditioning work during practices as he works through an undisclosed health issue that has made his football future uncertain.
Pruitt would prefer to have 16 to 18 healthy scholarship offensive linemen at practices. But even with the return of K'Rojhn Calbert from injury this spring, there have been as few as seven scholarship offensive linemen available during some practices. Sophomore offensive linemen Riley Locklear, Devante Brooks and Riley Locklear have been missing from recent practices. Pruitt declined to say why Tuesday.
Tuesday's workout was the 10th of 15 that Tennessee is allotted leading up to the April 21 spring game at Neyland Stadium, where the Vols are expected to divide into two teams and play a traditional-style game. At least three defensive linemen have been moved to offensive line for the last two weeks of spring practices to bolster depth at the position.
Pruitt said after Saturday's first scrimmage at Neyland Stadium that he has "definitely" seen improvement in the offensive line under the direction of position coach Will Friend this spring.
"As a group, I think Coach Friend has mixed all these guys around," Pruitt said. "Guys are playing a lot of different positions, some of it because of necessity, some of it's because it's our belief that we need to have multiple guys at each position."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.