Perhaps the ninth game of Tennessee's football season will finally be the one in which its first-team offensive line can play from start to finish.
The combination of left tackle Darnell Wright, left guard Jerome Carvin, center Cooper Mays, right guard Javontez Spraggins and right tackle Cade Mays didn't even make it through the first quarter of the opener against Bowling Green due to Cooper Mays sustaining an ankle injury. That same quintet has started once since, failing to stay intact at Florida on Sept. 25, but signs are pointing to a healthy front for Saturday night's game at No. 18 Kentucky.
"Before the first game, I openly talked about that was a position where we were relatively thin and couldn't really afford to get anybody banged up," Tennessee first-year coach Josh Heupel said this week. "About five plays into the season, we lost a guy. It's a unit that really cohesively hasn't played together a whole lot. There has been a lot of moving parts. They've fought, competed and grown as an entire group and individually throughout the course of the season.
"I do think we've got a chance to probably be our healthiest here on the back end of the season. They've been really efficient and done some really good things in the run game. The protections, at times, haven't been as clean as they need to be, but overall I'm really proud of the way they've competed."
Wright and Spraggins have been the only eight-game starters at the same position, while Carvin has made three starts at left guard and five at center. Carvin has not only been versatile but effective, having yet to allow a sack in his 563 snaps.
Cade Mays, who has yet to surrender a sack in 369 snaps, started the first seven contests but sustained a leg injury early against Ole Miss that forced him to miss the trip to Alabama on Oct. 23.
"As far as our preparation, it doesn't affect what we do," Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said of the Volunteers having a healthy front, "because they're not going to change much. Maybe they can add a few things when they have all of their experience, but I don't know. Overall, they're going to do what they do."
Dayne Davis, a former walk-on, got the start at right tackle in Tuscaloosa for the Vols, while Ollie Lane has made four starts at left guard when Carvin has shifted to center. Kingston Harris started at left guard against Tennessee Tech but got hurt and hasn't played since.
Last weekend's open date not only benefited the health of the line but of running backs Tiyon Evans and Jabari Small and quarterback Hendon Hooker. The Vols went to Alabama ranked sixth nationally with 249.1 rushing yards per game but were held to 65 yards on 27 carries.
Tennessee heads to Lexington with an average of 226.1 ground yards per contest, which ranks 13th in the country.
"In the last three or four or five weeks, we've really had to piece it together," Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh said. "Guys like Jerome Carvin being able to play center has been monumental to our success. I feel like we're going to have our best chance now down the stretch to run the football as long as we stay healthy, but it's been challenging both in running the football and protecting the quarterback in a lot of ways.
"It sucks playing on the offensive line when all you're doing is throwing the football. Those guys are teeing off on you, so we've got to do a good job this week of setting a tempo early with the run game, and the pass game will come."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.