Running back Eric Gray and offensive tackle Wanya Morris began spring football practice Monday at Oklahoma, while running back Ty Chandler started Tuesday at North Carolina.
Outside linebacker Deandre Johnson has been practicing with the Miami Hurricanes for more than a week.
There is no shortage of 2020 Tennessee Volunteers who no longer call Knoxville home, but the departures from Jeremy Pruitt's third and tumultuous season are not the responsibility of new Vols coach Josh Heupel. Tennessee will hold its first spring practice of the Heupel era on Thursday with an entirely new staff and with no starting position set in stone.
"At the end of the day, it's always about the players you have," Heupel said. "I don't care if that's with players who transitioned out of your program or who you don't get in recruiting. It's always about who is here. The level of buy-in has been phenomenal from our players.
"The accountability factor - these guys have wanted it. They bought into it, and they're trusting the process of getting ourselves prepared to go compete during spring."
Provided there are no more COVID-related setbacks, which caused a two-day delay in Tennessee's spring launch, the Vols will conduct their 15 allotted spring workouts through April 24, which is the date of the Orange & White game in Neyland Stadium.
Here are five spring questions worth tracking:
1. Which quarterbacks 'get' the system?
Tennessee has a full quarterback room with junior Brian Maurer, sophomore Harrison Bailey, Virginia Tech graduate transfer Hendon Hooker and early enrollee Kaidon Salter. Given Bailey's three starts at the end of last year and given Hooker's 21 career appearances with the Hokies, they are the favorites in late March, but this has the makings of a lengthy adventure.
"It's going to be who can grasp it the quickest, who can operate within the system and who can excel in the system," Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh said. "I know we don't have that answer right now, and I don't think we will have that answer at the end of spring. This is going to be a six-month process that gets us to week one, and you roll with the guy who you feel is the most prepared and the most most functional in running the offense.
"Those guys are so uniquely different, and at the end of the day, it's who can create plays, who doesn't turn the ball over and who can continue to get us positive yardage."
2. Does a primary running back emerge?
Perhaps Tennessee's rebuilding efforts at this position is best defined by Maurer being the team's second-leading returning rusher behind Jabari Small, who had 26 carries for 117 yards as a freshman last season.
The departures of Gray and Chandler and the release of four-star signee Cody Brown from his national letter-of-intent have left running backs coach Jerry Mack working with Small, Dee Beckwith, junior-college transfer Tiyon Evans and early enrollee Jaylen Wright.
"We've got some people in this building who are really dynamic," the upbeat Mack said. "We had a couple of guys transfer, but I'm still excited about the room we have right now. From what I've seen so far, these guys are going to have the opportunity to be special."
3. Does the offensive line take shape?
The Vols have starting positions to fill at center and left guard due to Brandon Kennedy and Trey Smith pursuing NFL aspirations, and there is also a void at left tackle with Morris having transferred to Oklahoma and Jahmir Johnson to Texas A&M. Each started five times at left tackle last season.
Brothers Cade and Cooper Mays could be the foundation of this year's front along with K'Rojhn Calbert and Darnell Wright, the five-star signee from 2019 who was one of the rare 2020 Vols to announce on social media that he was returning. Javontez Spraggins may find his way into a starting role, but the Vols lost some depth when signee J'Marion Gooch requested his release and signed with Missouri.
4. Will a veteran step forward on D-line?
If it seems like defensive linemen Matthew Butler, LaTrell Bumphus, Darel Middleton and Aubrey Solomon were recruited during the Butch Jones era, it's because they were. Butler and Bumphus signed with the Vols in 2017, which was the final class with Jones at the helm, while Middleton and Solomon were also 2017 signees who started elsewhere before transferring to Knoxville - Middleton at East Mississippi Community College and Solomon the University of Michigan.
This was a mediocre collection last season, but in fairness to each of them, they didn't have a position coach after the fourth game. Rodney Garner now has that role and didn't take long to bring up his first season as Auburn's defensive line coach in 2013.
"I probably had 10 different starting lineups," Garner said. "You're trying to find the right matchups and getting guys to play with the right chemistry so we can be successful defensively. Right now, we're just trying to find out where guys fit the best, where they can execute and where they can play at a championship level."
5. What's going on at middle linebacker?
Just how long do Henry To'o To'o and Quavaris Crouch plan to stay in the NCAA transfer portal? To'o To'o's father said last month that his son was heavily leaning to Alabama, but the Crimson Tide are in their second week of practicing.
Without those two and with top signee Aaron Willis having been suspended, Jeremy Banks, who's had his own colorful college career, may be the first building block for linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary.
"I know there are different defenses, fronts, and responsibilities with every defense you have," Jean-Mary said, "but the middle linebackers are always going to be the captain of the defense, and through history that is proven."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.