KNOXVILLE – Tennessee’s situation at defensive tackle is so dire right now, it’s a big deal for the Volunteers if Paul Bain will be ready to play against Kentucky on Saturday.
Bain is a walk-on who made his debut last week against Tennessee Tech.
Continuing a troubling trend, he hurt his ankle late in the game to become the latest injured tackle, and the losses of Kahlil McKenzie and Shy Tuttle to injury, the dismissal of Danny O’Brien and the lingering hip injury for Alexis Johnson meant the Vols were nearly out of options.
They added one out of desperation this week by moving offensive guard Charles Mosley to the defensive line.
“Trying to find big, able bodies,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said Wednesday.
At 6-foot-4 and 340 pounds, Mosley is the Vols’ biggest body, but how able he’ll be to help Tennessee against Kentucky’s run-first, wildcat-based offense on Saturday is anyone’s guess.
The former four-star recruit redshirted his first year on campus after breaking his leg in a car accident in July 2014 and began his career as a defensive tackle during his first spring practice in 2015. In nearly two years on the offensive line Mosley never was able to make a move on the depth chart, but Tennessee’s injury prompted this move out of necessity.
“He’s played that position before,” Jones said. “He went through a spring at defensive tackle. He understands kind of the techniques that are involved with it. We’ve been fighting the law of attrition, and we’re trying to find individuals that can hold up against the run and some of the things they do from a gap-scheme standpoint, from a zone-scheme standpoint.
“We need quality looks as well. We’ve done more good on good. Getting him over on the defense has also helped our offense from a zero-nose (guard) standpoint. We’re going to see a Bear front (with) a head-up nose, so our centers need that work, too.”
Mosley could play against Kentucky. Starter Kendal Vickers and reserve Quay Picou are the lone true tackles to survive the season so far, though Picou barely has played meaningful snaps outside of the Alabama and Tennessee Tech games. Defensive end Kyle Phillips slid inside to help the Vols full time at tackle the past three games.
Jones said Phillips is “ready to go” despite concerns about his shoulder, but the coach said Johnson, who could redshirt (he’s played in just one game this season), is “not anywhere close to helping.”
Beyond the trio of Vickers, Picou and Phillips, Tennessee’s options consist of sliding other ends inside or, yes, Mosley.
“That’s my little bro,” defensive end LaTroy Lewis said, “so when I first saw him in the defensive line room I go, ‘Little bro!’ Even the way that Charles is embracing what the coaching staff is asking him to do, it speaks volumes to who he is and what our team is right now. There is adversity, and we’re learning how to handle it.
“Each day and each week, I feel like, we get a new challenge, and Charles has been more than compliant and up to the challenge, asking questions, staying after practice, staying longer in meetings and doing whatever he can to learn and be able to help us.”
Based on how this season has gone, Mosley will need to be ready.
“That’s kind of been the theme this year with our football team,” Jones said. “As we all know we’ve had a lot of adversities and we’re down a number of defensive tackles, so (we’re) just trying to find individuals that can help the team win and give us an opportunity.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.