What Josh Heupel said about Tennessee Football's open competition at left guard
Josh Heupel has a list of names he can rattle off. But the Tennessee Football head coach, at least while speaking publicly, isn’t ready to put the names in order in the left guard competition that has played out over the last three weeks.
“No depth chart being handed out yet,” Heupel said during his press conference on Monday.
That depth chart will be handed out on Monday, when No. 15 Tennessee starts game-week preparations for Chattanooga in the season opener on August 31 (12:45 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium.
Heupel described the left guard competing being “really good” during the preseason. But that’s as far as he was willing to go.
“Andrej (Karic) missed a couple days but came right back,” he said. “He’s played really well. Shams (Sham Umarov) playing really well. Jackson Lampley has versatility to play multiple sides as well.
“So as we head into this week, there’s still a lot of competition and I’ve said it to our team since January. Our coaches included, I think I’ve mentioned it to you guys too. We got to have multiple guys ready to play.”
Preseason All-American Cooper Mays anchors Tennessee’s offensive line at center
The other four spots on the offensive line seem settled.
Redshirt senior Cooper Mays anchors the group, a preseason Associated Press All-American who has started 32 games over the last four seasons.
Senior Javontez Spraggins is back at right guard after starting 37 games over the last four seasons, including 36 over the last three. Redshirt senior John Campbell is next to him, after starting nine games at left tackle last season after transferring in from Miami.
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Campbell flipped from left tackle to right tackle after Tennessee added Lance Heard out of the NCAA Transfer Portal in January. Heard is a former five-star recruit who spent his freshman season at LSU and was ranked No. 9 overall and No. 2 among offensive tackles in the On3 Transfer Portal rankings.
‘I think you always let the competition sort itself out’
For now, Karic and Lampley seem like the most likely candidates for the job. But when Tennessee offensive line coach Glen Elarbee was asked about the left guard competition early in training camp, like Heupel, he had little to say other than names — a lot of names.
“I think you always let the competition sort itself out,” Elarbee said. “Andrej’s worked (at) left guard, Dayne (Davis has) worked (at) left guard, Lamps (Jackson Lampley) worked at left guard, Shams working (at) left guard. Even BG (Brian Grant) has bounced in there who are kind of moving guys around day-to-day.
“And at the end of the day, whoever is the best, that guy is going play and then we’re going to have to play somebody behind him. Like it’s gonna be a long year. Coach Heup’s made an emphasis on us rotating. So I’m trying to make that point in the way we practice it. Guys are rotating in and taking lot of reps with ones and twos.”
