Josh Heupel didn’t provide an answer for who will be taking over Keenan Pili’s “green dot” communication helmet in the wake of Pili’s season-ending injury against Florida.
Heupel was non-committal in Tennessee’s choice because the Vols have not quite figured that out.
Tennessee does have a few candidates, though.
“Yeah, haven’t finalized that,” Heupel said on Monday as the Vols began the new week of practices. “Could be Arion (Carter). Could be (Jeremiah) Telander that takes that one.”
The NCAA passed a rule last spring allowing teams to have one player on offense, one on defense, and one on special teams wear a communication helmet, labeled with a green dot on the back of the helmet. Coaches can communicate with players before the play, however, coach-to-player communication is cut off with either 15 seconds left on the play clock or the snap of the ball, whichever comes first.
Tennessee veteran Keenan Pili was the Vols’ designated defensive helmet communicator throughout the season but suffered a season-ending ACL injury against Florida this past weekend. Pili has been productive for Tennessee and is currently tied as the Vols’ leading tackler despite barely playing against Florida (29 total tackles).
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Pili and fellow starting linebacker Arion Carter combined for 62% of Tennessee’s linebacker snaps before the Florida game. With Pili’s departure early in the game on Saturday, though, Tennessee turned to linebacker Jeremiah Telander for a bulk of Pili’s work. Telander averaged 17 snaps per game against Oklahoma and Arkansas but more than tripled that workload against Florida in Pili’s absence (67 snaps).
Ultimately, Carter and Telander combined for 69 percent of Tennessee’s linebacker snaps against Florida. It’s no surprise that Tennessee’s coaching staff is looking at one of those two players to be the next helmet communicator.
Tennessee linebacker Kalib Perry also saw a significant increase in workload against the Gators with Pili out. Perry averaged just 8.5 snaps per game against Oklahoma and Arkansas but saw 35 snaps against the Gators on Saturday.
Tennessee linebacker Jalen Smith also saw a higher snap count against Florida, but not as much of an increase as Telander and Perry.
Here’s a look at the snap count for all five Tennessee linebackers through the first six games of the season, courtesy of Pro Football Focus:
| (Snap Counts) | Keenan Pili | Arion Carter | Jeremiah Telander | Jalen Smith | Kalib Perry |
| Chattanooga |
15 |
22 |
25 |
23 |
23 |
| NC State |
31 |
33 |
25 |
17 |
DNP |
| Kent State |
15 |
17 |
12 |
12 |
12 |
| Oklahoma |
57 |
59 |
12 |
3 |
9 |
| Arkansas |
62 |
47 |
22 |
14 |
8 |
| Florida |
2* |
53 |
67 |
19 |
35 |
| TOTAL |
182 |
231 |
163 |
88 |
87 |
No. 11 Tennessee will host No. 7 Alabama on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. ET in Neyland Stadium.
Check out Josh Heupel’s full Monday press conference below:
