Off The Hook Sports continues its 2022 Tennessee football preseason preview on the top 25 impact players for the Vols this upcoming season.

Coming in at No. 6 is senior linebacker Aaron Beasley

Past Performance

There were not a lot of overwhelming positives from last season’s defensive unit. The linebacker unit certainly had its struggles, but Aaron Beasley’s emergence was a sight for sore eyes.

It was a makeshift position in the first place. First the Vols lost Henry To’o To’o and Quavaris Crouch, then Beasley and Willis were suspended from the team for separate incidents. J.J. Peterson, a hopeful contributor at linebacker, also transferred away before the start of the season.

Incoming was Juwan Mitchell from Texas, who ended up missing the majority of the year with an injury. By the time Game 1 rolled around against Bowling Green, Jeremy Banks, Mitchell and a recently reinstated Beasley were all that remained in terms of viable production.

But Banks and Beasley performed well given the circumstances. The Vols struggled against mobile quarterbacks such as Matt Corral and Bryce Young, but Banks and Beasley led the team in tackles and Beasley, a junior at the time, recorded a team-high two recovered fumbles. He also registered 7.5 sacks on the year.

Beasley, a three-star prospect from Georgia, has the potential (you’ll see that word a lot) to be a strong Mike linebacker for the Vols this season.

Opportunities

Middle linebacker is the most important position on defense. Let’s go back to that word ‘potential.’

Though Tennessee is working its way back to having legitimate linebacker depth, it’s going to be the Aaron Beasley and Jeremy Banks show once again this season. While last year was a decent start, Beasley’s senior campaign needs to be a confident step in the right direction.

That starts with being more disciplined. In too many scenario’s last season, the Vols secondary covered its targets well on third down, only to see the quarterback scramble for the first. It’s complex, but the responsibility for stopping that reality is on the linebackers (and front 4).

Tennessee has a few incoming prospects in Joshua Josephs, James Pearce and Kalib Perry who will be itching for an opportunity to see minutes.

Hear it From

As stated earlier, Tennessee is desperate for some stability in the linebacker room.

It’s hard to progress at a position with so few numbers, especially when not everything goes as planned with Mitchell suffering injuries. This year, Tennessee should feel slightly better heading into the season

“Fast forward to now, it is a night and day difference. We have 90% of the guys in the room,” linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary said. “Having Jeremy Banks healthy, having Aaron Beasley back, those are guys that started the majority of the season for us, and our main sub, Solon Page is back, and, obviously Pakk (Kwauze Garland). We have so many guys that played for us in some capacity, having them here in the spring has been a night and day difference.”
Though that backup is there, its hard to imagine Tennessee succeeding at the position with Beasley out of the picture.