No depth chart.
At least not yet.
Tennessee fourth-year football coach Josh Heupel conducted a news conference following Monday’s practice, which he said marked the end of preseason camp. Monday also served as day 12 of the countdown clock before the Volunteers open their 2024 season inside Neyland Stadium against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Most of Tennessee’s starting spots are known, but left guard is an exception. Andrej Karic started the first four games last year after transferring from Texas but would suffer a lower-body injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the season.
“It’s been really good,” Heupel said. “Andrej missed a couple of days but came right back and has played really well. Sham (Umarov) is playing really well. Jackson Lampley has the versatility to play multiple sides.
“As we head into this week, there is still a lot of competition, and I’ve said since January that we’ve got to have multiple guys ready to play.”
The Vols will take Tuesday off before practicing Wednesday through Saturday.
Tennessee’s left guard position has been up for grabs since the start of camp, but the starting “star” spot in the secondary opened up when Jourdan Thomas sustained a season-ending knee injury on Aug. 3. Vying to replace Thomas have been Christian Harrison, a redshirt sophomore from Atlanta’s Woodward Academy, and freshman Boo Carter from Bradley Central.
“Both of those guys have done a great job of growing in the fundamentals and with the communication that takes place there with the guys beside them and back behind them,” Heupel said. “I’m really excited about what both of those guys have done on the practice field to this point.
“They will both play a lot of ball.”
Harrison has played in 13 career games and has amassed 11 tackles. The 6-foot-1, 191-pounder played 10 snaps at cornerback in last season’s opener against Virginia and 12 snaps on special teams at Florida, but he played just four regular-season games to cement a redshirt year and then saw action in the shredding of Iowa in the Citrus Bowl.
Despite losing Thomas for the year, Heupel said he feels really good with where the entire secondary is at this point.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava is back practicing after being briefly sidelined with a stomach bug, while sophomore running back Cam Seldon has been cleared for contact. Seldon served as Dylan Sampson’s backup in the Citrus Bowl and rushed 13 times for 55 yards, but he was sidelined early in spring practice by a should injury.
“For us, this week becomes a little more like a regular game week,” Heupel said, “but you’re still doing a lot of good on good work. It’s kind of a combination, and it’s a good taste for the new guys of what game week kind of looks like.”
Recruiting roll
Heupel was asked about Tennessee’s recent successes on the recruiting trail, which included a commitment Saturday from David Sanders Jr., the nation’s top offensive tackle prospect from Charlotte, and a commitment Sunday from four-star linebacker Jaedon Harmon from Rome, Georgia. Harmon had been committed to Alabama.
The Vols now have 23 commitments, with only five hailing from the Volunteer State.
“Tennessee is unique with all the states that touch it and how close in proximity it is to so many great players,” Heupel said. “The success in recruiting for us isn’t something that just happened in the last six weeks. There is so much that goes into it.
“We’ve been able to recruit to the culture we have here, and we’ve had success on the field. All these things parlay themselves to the success that we’ve had on the recruiting trail.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.