There are several obvious candidates when it comes to which Tennessee football player will be missed the most from its Orange Bowl championship team of last season.
No quarterback in program history was more efficient than Hendon Hooker. Speedy receiver Jalin Hyatt was the first Volunteers player to earn the Biletnikoff Award. Right tackle Darnell Wright did not allow a sack in the final 19 games of his college career, while edge rusher Byron Young capped his productive two-year stint in Knoxville with two sacks against Clemson.
Vols defensive line coach Rodney Garner has someone else in mind.
“We’ve got to replace all the production that ‘BY’ gave us, but people don’t realize how valuable LaTrell Bumphus was,” Garner said Saturday in a news conference following Tennessee’s fourth spring practice. “When we went back and looked at our cut-ups from the past season, he did a heck of a job for us. We’ve got to have a guy we can count on, because that guy did everything right.”
The Vols will resume workouts Tuesday morning before practicing again Thursday and Saturday, with Saturday also serving as their first spring scrimmage.