With quarterback Nico Iamaleava having transferred to UCLA following Tennessee’s spring practices, the Volunteers only have left tackle Lance Heard and tight end Miles Kitselman as returning starters offensively for the 2025 season.
The way Heard sees it, he’s going to be a new starter, too.
“The biggest difference for me this year is my health,” Heard said during a news conference in April. “Last year was kind of a battle for me having two separate injuries. I had an injury in the second or third game and was out a couple of weeks, and that was a challenge, especially mentally. I was playing injured the entire year, just fighting through it.
“I feel a lot healthier now, and this offense is getting more comfortable for me.”
The 6-foot-6, 330-pounder from Bonita, Louisiana, will be a huge component literally and figuratively in Tennessee’s quest for a second straight appearance in the 12-team College Football Playoff. A former five-star LSU signee, Heard transferred to the Vols after the 2023 season and underwent a minor knee procedure last summer.
Heard sustained the ankle injury in the 51-10 win over North Carolina State in Charlotte on Sept. 7, which caused him to sit out the ensuing triumphs over Kent State and Oklahoma.
“Sometimes I felt OK, but I never felt 100%,” Heard said. “I would say the most was 75%.”
Tennessee averaged 447.0 yards per game last season to rank 15th nationally, but outbursts of 718 yards against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a program-record 740 against Kent State padded that statistic. The more telling clip was a rushing offense that averaged 225.85 yards a contest, with Dylan Sampson pounding his way to 1,491 yards, which also set a school mark.
Stopping Sampson was objective one for opposing defenses, but that was easier said than done, as he earned Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year. Heard had a role in that, even if he wasn’t operating at full strength.
“He had the ankle injury and did a phenomenal job battling through it,” Vols offensive line coach Glen Elarbee said this spring, “but that didn’t help him.”
Heard had a rough outing when he returned to action at Arkansas on Oct. 5, which was the only loss Tennessee suffered to a team that didn’t reach the playoff. He did not allow any sacks in the victories over Florida and Alabama or in the loss at Georgia, and he helped the Vols rack up 538 total yards and 281 rushing yards in the 36-23 triumph at Vanderbilt that punched Tennessee’s playoff ticket.
Cooper Mays, Javontez Spraggins, Andrej Karic and John Campbell Jr. exhausted their eligibility up front last season, so Heard has assumed more of a leadership role, particularly in film study.
“I’m wanting to understand the whole scheme of the offense and not just my position,” Heard said. “It’s knowing what the center is doing and what the receivers are doing. It’s knowing how long the routes are, so I know how long I’ve got to block. It’s knowing where the quarterback is setting up. It’s a lot of different things.”
Said Elarbee: “The things I have challenged him on are his running-game footwork, his protections, keeping a base, staying in a good body position and just fighting every day like there is something breathing down his neck. He’s been awesome.”
Expected to join Heard in the starting five later this year are left guard and Arizona transfer Wendell Moe Jr., center William Satterwhite, right guard and Notre Dame transfer Sam Pendleton, and five-star freshman right tackle David Sanders Jr.
That’s a lot of new players, and Heard wants Tennessee fans to see a new player in him as well.
“Injuries hampered my play a lot,” Heard said. “I couldn’t move like I wanted to or like I know I can. It was just challenging.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.