KNOXVILLE – It’s been a tumultuous couple of weeks for Tennessee’s football program.
Actual football is on the horizon, however.
The Volunteers open spring practice next week, and the Times Free Press will preview the key parts of an offseason that so far has been dominated by headlines regarding off-the-field matters.
After listing five intriguing players to watch and breaking down how the Vols will replace two veteran safeties, the preview continues with a look at redshirt freshman Drew Richmond.
“My time is now.”
Richmond, the former five-star offensive tackle prospect out of Memphis, tweeted those words on New Year’s Day, not long after the final whistle sounded on Tennessee’s 45-6 rout of Northwestern at the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla.
When that game ended, so did the career of fifth-year senior Kyler Kerbyson, Tennessee’s starting left tackle in 2015.
The position is now Richmond’s for the taking, and the Vols are excited to see what the 6-foot-5, 301-pounder can do this spring after redshirting his first year in Knoxville.
Tennessee’s offensive line enters spring practice with a combined 71 career starts for its members, but no player on the roster has ever started a game for the Vols at left tackle, the blind-side protector of quarterback Josh Dobbs.
Kerbyson quietly was Tennessee’s most reliable offensive lineman last season, when the Vols rushed for 2,908 yards – Tennessee’s highest total since 1993 – and he set the bar high for his replacement, whether it’s Richmond or someone else.
Richmond didn’t play left tackle in high school, either, so there’s a chance the Vols could flip sophomore Chance Hall, who performed so well at right tackle as a freshman last season, to that side. Brett Kendrick is another possible starter at tackle and should get all the first-team repetitions at right tackle he can handle this spring with Hall sidelined after shoulder surgery.
The Vols would like to find more depth at tackle, but they also hope Richmond is ready to go after his redshirt season, which allowed him to get stronger and adjust to big-time Southeastern Conference football.
It wasn’t always easy for Richmond to go from a blue-chip recruit to not playing. Typical transfer rumors swirled throughout the season. At some point, though, Richmond realized the value of the opportunity he had to build toward this spring and pointed to it as motivation.
Vols head coach Butch Jones and offensive line coach Don Mahoney used former Tennessee offensive linemen like Ja’Wuan James and Spencer Riley to talk Richmond through his redshirt year.
“To play nowadays as a freshman, it’s not a failure if you don’t,” Mahoney said in November. “And really it’s almost (a situation) in which you should say thank you, because you had a chance to digest things. You have a chance to mature. You have a chance to process.
“Probably where it hit (Richmond) the most was the open date. We were coming off the (practice) field, and he said, ‘You know what, I can’t wait till the spring to become a much smarter player.’ They all think they’re ready until they get in there and the bullets are flying. They go, ‘No I’m not.'”
Richmond believes he’s ready now, though, and this spring will be his chance to prove it.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.