KNOXVILLE – A fifth Tennessee freshman had his black helmet stripe removed on Friday morning, but it wasn’t one of the obvious ones.
Guard Jashon Robertson, who began preseason training camp at defensive tackle, joined tailback Jalen Hurd, tight end Ethan Wolf, cornerback Emmanuel Moseley and defensive end Derek Barnett as the newcomers who have earned the right to have their stripes taken off.
“When we recruited him, we knew he brought value to both sides of the football,” second-year Vols coach Butch Jones said after practice.
The 6-foot-3, 304-pound Robertson, a former state champion wrestler, has gotten some first-team work this week and impressed coaches with his toughness and quick learning ability.
He was a two-way lineman at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville and a long-time Vanderbilt commitment that joined Tennessee’s class in January after James Franklin left the Commodores for Penn State.