Tennessee OL coach Glen Elarbee talks replacing four starters

Tennessee offensive line coach Glen Elarbee has a different challenge in the 2025 season as the Vols are replacing four starters in the trenches.

Following Tennessee’s workout on Saturday, Elarbee met the media to discuss his new transfers Wendall Moe and Sam Pendelton, his lone returning starter in Lance Heard and what things look like at right tackle. 

Tennessee offensive line coach Glen Elarbee has a different challenge in the 2025 season as the Vols are replacing four starters in the trenches.

Following Tennessee’s workout on Saturday, Elarbee met the media to discuss his new transfers, his lone returning starter and what things look like at right tackle. 

Where do you think you are with your group? Obviously you gotta challenge with replacing four starters. Where do you think you’re off to start-wise right now? 

I feel like we’re off to a good start, man. It’s different ’cause you lost so many guys. But the good news is this group’s all kind of the same age, same level of learning. They’ve tied in together, they’re helping each other. It’s just a fun bunch to be around. And we’ve been working a lot. Like they put a ton of time in taking a ton of growth. There’s been some M.A.’s (missed assignments) here and there, but for the most part we’ve been pretty assignment sound. Guys have been playing hard. There’s a ways to go, but I love what we’re doing right now. 

Wendell was telling us he played at 345 last year. He’s like 320ish this year, right? What’s your overall thoughts of him just especially seeing maybe what you saw in film outta him at Arizona last year at that weight versus what you’re seeing this spring at his current weight? 

One, he’s a twitched-up dude. So he moved great at 345, moving even better at 325. The thing that you saw on tape but didn’t know till you got him is he has a real sixth sense for the game. Just really good at adjusting on the fly. Probably the most meticulous note-taker we have in the meeting. His notebook as kind of the example when we do notebook checks and the way he approached the game. He had a little issue trying to get into it health-wise and now he’s rolling full speed and doing phenomenal.

What all goes into a notebook check? 

Me having to sit there and go through it and make notes and give ’em a grade for how they’re actually taking notes and ideas on how to organize it differently, Are you doing enough drawings? Are you doing enough the rules, are you writing down the corrections you’re supposed to be making every day? Those type things.

Is this all from film or from just meetings with you? 

Install, film, everything. 

So, so you’re kinda like a teacher going through and grading these 

Exactly. And it’s a task, especially with 18 of them. There’s a lot of notes but it is been worth it. It’s been kind of what we’ve done here, trying to push the envelope every single day. 

Do you grade on a curve? 

Grade on a curve? No, they, they won’t let us have a curve come fall on Saturday. 

Have you always done that?

I’ve done it before in the past. The last few years you’ve been lucky ’cause you’ve had a bunch of experienced guys that knew how to take notes and how to do it. Now you’ve got a bunch of young guys that for the first time, they’re learning the process of what it takes to be a pro. 

What’s the biggest difference you see in Lance (Heard) from last season to now? 

Probably knowledge of the game. He’s really bought into trying to understand everything around him, not just himself. He’s asking about routes and why defenses do this and why are we doing this and just trying to like holistically learn. The thing I’ve challenged him on, he still has to continue to work, just run game footwork and what he’s doing and then his protections,

Keeping his base, staying in a good body position and fight every day like there’s something breathing down your neck. But he’s been awesome been phenomenal. 

Sam Pendleton was one you almost got the first time around. To get him on the bounce back, you know, having played a little bit of college football. What is it you like about him? 

I feel like we hit on both transfers and the fact that they’re just phenomenal human beings. Sam has helped one off the field, kind of unite the room. He does a great job of trying to get guys to go eat dinner outside the facility, go play golf outside the facility, do things together. And then he is highly, highly intelligent playing guard and center. There’s been some in MAs just because those are the two toughest positions when you transfer in and he knows it, we’ve talked about it, but man, he grinds it every single day. He has a great attitude. He has just integrated into the room so fast. 

When you got the practice field this spring and you looked around, there was no Cooper, there’s no Spraggins. How odd was that?

It was crazy. Probably more surrealistic when you had that first meeting. You’re like looking at the guys in the room like man this is different. But it’s like you miss ’em and loved having them, but now you gotta go and you want the best for them. You gotta see, like yesterday I think Roam, Coop, Dane and Dre were working out and I gotta see them. It was like long last buddies that you hadn’t seen in a long time. We’re like just freaking schoolgirls over there chatting. But we’re going to jell with unit that we have now. 

What do you like about the center competition right now? 

The fact that it is a competition. With Coop, you know, you would kind of fake like you gotta go but you knew Coop was gonna be it. Satterwhite for sure gets the start of the spring piece of it. But you got Sam (Pendleton) pushing on him, you got Max (Anderson) pushing on him. Nick Moore’s coming along. He’s not at that level yet. But there’s competition there. And anytime there’s competition it, it helps you get better. 

How’s, how’s David (Sanders) coming along? What are you pushing him in right now as you get through the middle part of Spring? 

Early on was challenging him, you want to play early, you have to learn everything and trying to push the envelope mentally. I think he’s gotten a ton better there. He’s one of the ones that trying to help learn how to be a pro as far as the note taking piece of it. He is freaky, athletic, freaky, talented. He flashes as much as anybody and the amount of times that he’s able to go play full speed as he knows exactly what he’s doing is way more now than it was at the very beginning. You just gotta keep building on that to where something changes and he doesn’t, have to think he can just react and go play. But he’s one again, phenomenal kid is bought in every single day, works and grinds his butt off, comes over and meets extra like he’s done a a great job. 

You mentioned Satterwhite, where’s he come since last year and what’s kind of the next step that he needs to take to win that job? 

I think he’s doing one, trying to be a leader. We’ve divided up like responsibilities in the room. He’s making sure everybody has their goals set and kind of put that on him and every time they don’t, he has a deal for it and he’s done a good job leadership wise. He has been really solid mentally. It actually been our best center snap until the day he’s gotta get that right but he is gained the weight. He’s 308-310.So he’s, he’s doing everything that he needs to. 

Larry (Johnson) is kind of a forgotten guy by I think about a lot of people because you got five star in David and you have Lance Hurd. Where do you think Larry is? Can he play both sides? How do you see him factoring in? 

I especially in the last year, I thought he had come an unbelievably long way and being honest with him through it. I was expecting him to just like jump out and have an unbelievable spring. He’s had a very solid one. I’m like Trey, you’ve got the capability of even taking another step. And I think he, he understands that and he agrees. We’ve been trying to be super honest in our oline room. He’s got that ability. As far as flipping, I feel like we can potentially do some of that. I just want him to be comfortable ’cause he played majority left last year, now he’s playing right. But again, I can’t speak for him and the room but he’s done a good job. 

How do you balance the room? You got a, get a core group of guys from last year’s class again, Jesse Perry, those guys you really like and you bring in two transfers. How do you balance that? Making sure they don’t get discouraged? Because I’m sure they thought when the season ended, okay, I’m ready. It’s my time, go time. And all of a sudden here come these two transfers in, to keep them engaged to where they don’t want to knee jerk after spring and want to go portal?

I think honesty and after the season we had exit meetings. I was brutally honest with them about where they stood and the fact that we need help depth wise inside and that we were gonna bring guys in. The first meeting that we had in the room, went through every single person told them where I thought they were as a player, what they needed to improve on, where they were on the depth chart. After practice five, we did the same thing. Communicating to them, this is where you’re at and if you don’t like where you’re at, be a man, fix it and go get the position. At the end of the day, that’s your responsibility. And they’ve embraced that. They’ve enjoyed that piece of it.

What was your exit meeting with Lance Hurd? Just how did you grade him out and how far did you want him to come? 

Yeah, again, it was really honest. It hurt you missing fall camp. You had the ankle and did phenomenal job battling through it, but that didn’t help you. We gotta get better in the areas that I listed in spring with the protection and staying in good base and the run game footwork and learning the game. And he was not only agreeing but like wanting help and how to do it. 

When can he do extra work? He  wants to be elite and he’s done everything in his power to be a leader and be elite. He just gotta keep pushing man. He’s so I guess just tell him the truth.