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. 5 is fifth-year senior Jerome Carvin.
Past Performance
Tennessee center Cooper Mays left 2021’s season opener against Bowling Green with an ankle injury. He would miss the next game against Pitt, and reaggravated his injury against No. 11 Florida the following week.
The answer the coaching staff found was left guard Jerome Carvin, who had never played a snap at center in his time at Tennessee. He slid over to one of the most important positions on the line and didn’t give up a sack against Pitt.
Mays continued having injury issues and Carvin continued to shine in relief. Carvin was a savior for an offensive line full of issues last season based off his versatility alone. He started seven games at his natural position of left guard, five in lieu of Mays at center and once at right guard, helping Tennessee accumulate 441 yards of total offense against Vanderbilt.
The fifth-year senior announced last season the NFL Draft could wait and is right there alongside Hendon Hooker as the most important returning decision of the offseason.
And that’s for multiple reasons. His versatility touched on above, but also his dominance on the line. Carvin has allowed just one sack in three playing seasons on Rocky Top and has seen action on 1,957 – the most of any offensive lineman on the team.
Opportunities
It’s easy to say the guard position is not as important as the tackle position on offense.
The quarterback’s weakside is the most important. Hendon Hooker is right-handed, which means the left tackle (a position that is currently up in the air less than two months away from the start of the season) holds the most responsibility containing the edge rusher from Hooker’s blind side.
Carvin, at 6-foot-5, 321-pounds, handled the big guys at guard and center last season. He has put an emphasis on improving his pass protection abilities and becoming more of a leader for the team heading into his second senior season.
Being a leader should stand out. Carvin is the most experienced of Tennessee’s offensive linemen alongside Darnell Wright, who will likely start at right tackle for the Vols this season, with a chance to shift over to left tackle with his skillset.
Above all, the opportunity Carvin gives Tennessee remains his versatility. Tennessee is likely to have more injury problems on the offensive line, and having a guy like Carvin who has played three of the five positions on the line (and played them well), it’s hard to count a guy like that out.
Carvin looks to extend his streak of not allowing a sack dating back to the middle of 2020.
Hear it from…
Carvin spoke on his versatility on The Slive, Tennessee Athletics’ player-driven podcast.
“It’s hard down there, bodies get banged up and bruised up,” Carvin said. “If a guy goes down, it can’t be a drop off in the play, say a guy has to switch over from left to right, you have to be able to do it, they have to do it efficiently.”
“That just harps on practice, you cant just be like oh I play one position, no you play everything. You play offensive line, not just those particular positions. That helped out a lot, me getting those multiple reps at everything.”
That practice paves the way for Carvin to help out even more when the inevitable injury comes, and could serves as an example for fellow linemen to follow in his footsteps. It’s what keeps him in the regular rotation, knowing he is essentially guaranteed reps whenever he is healthy. Don’t be surprised to see Carvin venture outside of his comfort zone at left guard this season.
