Tennessee linebacker’s coach Brian Jean-Mary is pleased with the early development of his young linebackers this season. That being said, though, Jean-Mary also had the belief that the development would come quickly.
With Tennessee facing an early season injury to veteran transfer linebacker Keenan Pili, the Vols had to rely on the young linebackers quicker and more consistently than originally expected.
Sophomore linebacker Elijah Herring was inserted into the starting lineup in replacement of Pili and has started each game since the second week of the season.
“We never know at what level, injuries are a part of the game, so you never know when your number is going to get called,” Jean-Mary said on Tuesday. “Obviously, it was probably a little earlier than we expected. Elijah has gotten better and better as the season has gone along. From a kid from last year that really never played stack linebacker, he was an edge rusher in high school, then learning how to play inside linebacker, you see flashes of a kid that’s got a chance to be a very good linebacker. There’s still some of those moments where the inexperience starts to show, but all in all we’re happy with him.”
Development is one of the key phrases when talking about Tennessee’s linebacker room. The position group was arguably the most talked about unit on the Vols’ roster during training camp simply because of the hype around Tennessee’s promising, young, highly-rated recruits.
Herring was a reserve linebacker last season and did play in all 13 games but only recorded 11 tackles. The Georgia native surpassed that in just three games this season, totaling 43 tackles in the first seven games of the 2023 season.
“He plays physical and he’s going to give you, effort-wise, the most he has every snap,” Jean-Mary said of Herring. “So, I think the best is yet to come, but he has gotten better since the season has started.”
More from RTI: Tennessee Preparing For Old School Football Game Against Kentucky
Jean-Mary also spoke about Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander on Tuesday, two freshmen who have been vaulted into playing time due to the injury to Pili and the needs from the defense. It’s also their development and skill, though.
“So, you have to have those guys ready to play,” Jean-Mary said of his freshmen. “If we bring them here and if we recruited them here, we think they can play at a high level, obviously the speed of the game with their level of maturity and how they pick up the defense is always going to be a question, but those two guys have come here with eyes wide open with an open book to learn as much as they can and we’ve been thrilled with their development. Obviously, you’re playing high-level SEC football, it’s not going to be perfect, but once again, we can’t fault the effort and their ability to make plays.”
Carter has 15 tackles on the year while Telander has 12, though both have seen playing time in all seven games of the Vols’ season to date. Both players still show freshman growing pains out on the field but have stepped up in critical moments when Tennessee needed them to.
“Like I said, I think their best football is obviously ahead of them, but I think they’re ready to play if they’re called upon,” Jean-Mary said. “We’ve put them in games in some critical situations in these last couple weeks and they’ve done a good job.”
While Tennessee’s young linebackers aren’t perfect as Jean-Mary said, the Vols are in good shape moving forward with the young talent they have developing in-game at the position.
Kentucky will host No. 21 Tennessee this Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. ET in Lexington.
