Tennessee football signed seven offseason additions for the upcoming season. We’ve already touched on the top 25 most important returning players from last year’s team, now let’s touch on who among these new additions could make an immediate impact for the Big Orange come fall.
Coming in at No. 15 is Nebraska linebacker transfer Jackson Hannah.
Old Ways
Hannah is a Tennessee native, playing high school ball at Montgomery Bell Academy. He starred at linebacker there and was rated as the No. 15 overall prospect from the state of Tennessee, as well as the No. 27 OLB in the country in the class of 2019.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound linebacker’s landing spot out of high school was Nebraska, which he picked over Alabama, Arkansas, Ole Miss and a host of other SEC programs. Before this season, Tennessee had not extended Hannah a formal offer.
Hannah did not play much upon his arrival in Lincoln. He was and is a versatile athlete, but had trouble competing for the starting linebacker gig as a redshirt sophomore, seeing action only on special teams and once at linebacker against Fordham, where he collected his first and only tackle of his college career. Hannah redshirted his first season and made no appearances his redshirt freshman season.
Hannah is the only linebacker transfer the Vols acquired this offseason. He has three seasons of remaining eligibility after choosing to transfer to Tennessee as a preferred walk-on.
New Beginnings
Truth be told, it’s hard to see Hannah contributing much more than special teams or spot duty on certain packages.
But that doesn’t mean he can’t go anywhere with Tennessee long term. Hannah certainly has the talent to be a SAM linebacker – his instincts show that much. Where Hannah needs to improve is in build – especially facing off against SEC competition.
Tennessee is also still looking ot build depth at linebacker. Texas transfer Juwan Mitchell had injury problems and Michigan transfer William Mohan has run into some problems during camp. The Vols are a few injuries to Aaron Beasley and Jeremy Banks away from needing a veteran presence like Hannah to strap up.
That’s the case with a lot of Tennessee’s transfers this season, but linebacker is such an important position on defense – especially considering its struggles last season – that needs to be perfected for the Vols moving forward.
Tennessee signed two linebackers in the 2022 class that could fight Hannah for snaps. Kaleb Perry and Elijah Herring, older brother of 2023 4-star edge commit Caleb Herring, make up those two commitments.
