Believe it or not, there will come a time in which Keenan Pili isn’t playing college football. Seriously, Tennessee will need another middle linebacker at some point, actually after this season when Pili moves onto the NFL or an assisted living facility.
All jokes aside, Pili has been playing college football since 2016. The 26-year-old has begun his seventh season of college football, which began at BYU before transferring to Tennessee before the 2023 season and included a two-year Mormon mission. Last year must have been his worst season as he suffered a triceps injury that precluded him from playing the rest of the year. That’s when things got off kilter.
The Vols had options, but not many as they were still filling our their roster. It was first thought that Arion Carter might step in for Pili. However, he was injured as well and missed the last five games of the season. Plus, his athleticism is better suited at outside linebacker than middle linebacker, where Pili is a natural fit.
Former Vol Elijah Herring, who transferred to Memphis, was tabbed to be the replacement for Pili and, well, let’s just say that didn’t work out too well. Herring led the Vols with 76 tackles last season but looked lost and out of position far too often, especially in pass protection. Why Herring? The Vols didn’t have the depth to provide more options. This is a different football team.
If Pili went down at any point this season, it probably wouldn’t be a devastating blow for the Vols. Why? Tennessee clearly entered the season with two middle linebackers they felt comfortable with: Pili and sophomore Jeremiah Telander, who might just be more athletic than Pili and potentially a better player one day. After all, Pili was a three-star prospect from Provo, Utah. Telander was a four-star prospect from Georgia. Therefore, scouts certainly believe Telander is a step above Pili, even though he’s not able to rent a car like his elder colleague. The fact that Telander is in the two-deep as just a second-year player also speaks to his athleticism.
There were many reasons that the Vols didn’t reach preseason expectations last year, but one factor that is often overlooked is injuries. That Vols team didn’t have a massive amount of injuries, but for a roster that wasn’t fully assembled, they were quite troublesome.
Comparing the Vols’ depth at two positions in which they had key injuries last season, receiver and linebacker, is like comparing apples and oranges. The Vols lost receivers Bru McCoy and Dont’e Thornton to injuries last season. The fall off was noticeable. Now, they’re both back and part of an incredibly deep personnel group that could play six receivers easily if needed.
Then there was Cooper Mays. The center missed the beginning of the season to multiple hernias and Tennessee’s offensive line looked lost. There was just no one behind Mays that could handle the physical and mental aspect of running the Vols’ offensive front.
Getting back to Telander, his goal is two-fold: learn from Pili and be ready. He certainly kept a keen eye on his mentor in the Vols’ 69-3 win over Chattanooga on Saturday.
“Keenan played great, just like how I thought he would,” Telander said. “He got 15 snaps and each one of those he was very disciplined, made a difference. Was at the point of attack almost every single play. It’s great to come in behind somebody like that who you can learn so much from.”
Telander knows what to do. Moreover, Tennessee’s coaches know what he can do and, if needed, Telander shouldn’t be much of a drop off from first to second string. That could be said across the board for the Vols. There are, of course, certain players that the Vols just couldn’t afford to lose. We’ll let those rename nameless. However, there aren’t nearly as many as there were in the past.
That’s a testament to Tennessee coach Josh Heupel’s recruitment. The Vols may be unproven in some areas, but it’s tough to find a position in which they don’t have quality depth. That should give Tennessee’s coaches and Pili something to chat about when they meet again in a retirement home someday.
