Relocating from UT to UT wasn't exactly seamless.
With the transfer portal having ravaged Tennessee's football program a year ago, one of the arrivals last summer that instilled a little optimism for the Volunteers faithful was former Texas inside linebacker Juwan Mitchell. The Vols had lost their leading tackler from the 2020 season when Henry To'o To'o departed for longtime rival Alabama, but Mitchell had led the 2020 Longhorns with 62 tackles before deciding to give the Southeastern Conference a try.
Mitchell had seven tackles and a pass breakup in last September's second game against Pittsburgh, but he underwent shoulder surgery following the third contest at Florida and is working back from that this spring. He is doing so with an attitude that is much more pleasing to linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary.
"You can tell he's buying into the team concept here," Jean-Mary said Tuesday in a news conference. "It's always tough when you get a kid out of the portal who is going into a different program and may have different expectations and different rules. That was a struggle early, but he's been great, and he's been a great teammate as far as helping others out."
Mitchell is wearing a yellow, noncontact jersey this spring for the Vols, who passed the halfway mark with Tuesday's eighth workout.
The 6-foot-1, 235-pounder from Newark, New Jersey, started out at Butler (Kansas) Community College before transferring to Texas, where he played in 24 games over two seasons with 14 starts. The current fifth-year senior tallied just eight tackles in his three games last season, and Jean-Mary made it clear multiple times Tuesday that there were bumps in the transition.
"He made plays for us, but he wasn't good enough at times as far as being with the whole unit," Jean-Mary said. "I felt like he was getting better at that before we decided to shut him down. Our expectation for him is high.
"He came here wanting to play for the Volunteers but also for an opportunity at the highest level."
Jean-Mary has much more lofty expectations for his position group overall with the return of Mitchell, Jeremy Banks, Aaron Beasley, Solon Page, William Mohan and Pakk Garland. Only Mitchell and Mohan are unable to go full strength this spring, according to Jean-Mary, who also has sophomore Aaron Willis, mid-year enrollee Elijah Herring and Nebraska transfer Jackson Hannah, who is a preferred walk-on.
This time last year, Banks was injured, Beasley and Willis were suspended, and Mitchell and Mohan had yet to arrive.
"Some of you guys could have lined up at linebacker and we probably would have been more successful," Jean-Mary said. "We were just short on numbers, and it really was just about surviving the day. The idea of getting better and progressing - we really couldn't do that because we had so many guys out.
"It's a night and day difference this year."
Jean-Mary said that Willis is getting more comfortable, Hannah has been a pleasant surprise and that Herring is "doing a great job for someone who should be getting ready for his senior prom."
Stay under control
Banks led the Vols last season with 128 tackles and capped the year with 20 stops during the Music City Bowl loss to Purdue. Asked Tuesday how the 6-1, 224-pound fifth-year senior from Cordova could take that next step, Jean-Mary didn't hesitate.
"I think we all would agree that it's playing under control," he said. "He's such an aggressive player, which is what you want, but it has to be controlled aggression. He's been better this spring. He's still going to play the game 100 miles an hour, but he's got to do it within the framework of what our expectations are and, more importantly, what the officials' expectations are.
"He's got to play clean football, and he's been better there. We have to pull him back sometimes, but you would rather coach that than those you have to keep encouraging every day."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.