Why freshman Daevin Hobbs is an early standout for Tennessee on the defensive line
Daevin Hobbs was one of the biggest names in Tennessee football’s 2023 recruiting class. He was a five-star defensive line prospect in the On3 ratings, ranked No. 29 nationally, No. 4 at his position and No. 2 overall in the state of North Carolina.
He was second only to five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava, On3’s No. 1 overall player in the class.
Through the first week of his first fall camp, Hobbs is looking the part on the practice field for Tennessee.
After Tuesday’s practice, the sixth of camp and the first in full pads, redshirt senior defensive lineman Elijah Simmons pointed to Hobbs as one of the early standouts.
Daevin Hobbs was an On3 five-star prospect in 2023, ranked No. 29 overall
“He’s been coming in every day trying to go with the standard,” Simmons said. “That’s fighting, training, competing. He wasn’t here in the spring, he had a little injury, but he’s back now coming 100 percent.
“He’s been running to the ball, getting out the stack, doing exactly what coach wants us to do. So that’s one guy that stood as me for the most part.”
It was shoulder surgery that sidelined Hobbs during the spring, after he enrolled early at Tennessee in January. While he couldn’t take part on the field in March and April, he did everything he could do off the field to be ready for August.
“It was tough,” Hobbs said last week, “but I took the time to study my playbook, just watch over everything, because I couldn’t do anything but work out and watch. So I just watched everything.
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“Went home and watched film and everything on everybody, just really took in everything, all the plays, what coach likes, what he does and stuff like that.”
Added depth, accountability has Tennessee defensive line ‘moving in the right direction’
The 2023 recruiting class also included four-star edge rusher Caleb Herring, four-star edge rusher Chandavian Bradley, four-star defensive lineman Tyree Weathersby and three-star defensive lineman Nathan Robinson. The Vols also added four-star Arizona State defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott out of the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Tennessee’s 2022 class included four-star edge James Pearce, the highest-rated prospect in the group, and Tyre West, the four-star defensive lineman and second highest-rated prospect. Four-star edge Joshua Josephs was another big piece in 2022.
Defensive line coach Rodney Garner said on Tuesday that the added depth and, more importantly added accountability, in the defensive line meeting room has the Vols taking the right steps forward.
“I do feel like we are moving the room in the right direction,” Garner said. “Now, we have peers holding each other accountable. That’s what you want. If you’re ever going to have a championship caliber program, you have to have the leadership coming from within. Now, you’re seeing guys starting to hold each other more accountable.
“It’s not just the coaches where they’re sitting there saying, ‘That’s not our standard. That’s not how we do things.’ I think if we can keep moving in that direction, then we’ll be able to achieve better results.”
