By his own choice or not, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel is playing a dangerous game as he continues to fortify his roster. Recruiting offensive linemen is proving to be an issue for the Vols.

Tennessee lost four-star offensive lineman Douglas Utu to Oregon when he flipped his commitment from the Vols to the Ducks on Thursday. It was not a surprise. Rumors had persisted for weeks that Utu was considering backing off of his commitment to be a Vol following a trip to Knoxville last summer.

Utu, who is from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, was also recruited by Alabama, Michigan, Washington and Nebraska. Why did Utu flip? The common conception is that Tennessee was honest with him in that they had him projected to play offensive guard. Utu, instead, wanted to play offensive tackle. While NIL, location or a connection to Oregon that we might not know about could have also been a factor, that really doesn’t matter now. 

The 6-foot-7, 317-pound prospect, who is rated the overall No. 1 prospect in Nevada, the No. 2 interior offensive lineman in the nation and No. 69 overall, won’t be donning orange in college, unless he decides to transfer to Tennessee during his college career. In this day and age of college football recruiting, don’t rule it out.

Nevertheless, here’s the harsh reality: there’s no second place in recruiting and the Vols have finished second or worse far too many times in recruiting highly touted offensive linemen. That’s a problem for Heupel, perhaps his most pressing issue now that he’s in his fourth season. Before we delve into as much, let’s give Heupel credit for his wins in the 2025 class.

The Vols’ 2025 signing class is ranked No. 7 in the nation, which is sixth in the SEC. Looking for a national championship? Well, that kind of talent is good enough to do so, even though the Vols have yet to pull even in recruiting with two of their main rivals: Alabama, which is ranked No. 2, and Georgia, which is ranked No. 5. 

Tennessee has proven adept at evaluating lower rated players that became standouts and developing players that have become key players for the Vols. Center Cooper Mays is a great example. He wasn’t highly rated coming out of high school, but has proven to be one of the best centers in the nation. 

Again, player development isn’t a problem. Former Vol offensive lineman Darnell Wright was another example of what Heupel can do when his coaching staff gets their mitts on the right player. No one thought Wright could become a first-round draft pick before he dominated all comers in 2022. Sure, he was talented, but the Vols deserve credit for refining his skills.

The problem for Tennessee is that they haven’t landed enough good offensive linemen in high school recruiting and haven’t done that great in the transfer portal either, which is woefully evident in the Lance Heard situation.

Let’s start with this. The best offensive lines in the country are going to be built on high school football recruiting, not picking up highly touted transfers that couldn’t play elsewhere, which was the case with Heard. Offensive linemen need time to develop and build chemistry. Heard hasn’t been able to due that, in part, because he’s been banged up since preseason camp and just joined the program in January.

Tennessee guard Andrej Karic went through some growing pains last season, literally and figuratively. Karic struggled to pick up the Vols’ offense then missed most of the season with a lower body injury. With a year under his belt, Karic has become a solid player in the Vols’ interior. That had better not change. Why? If you watched the Oklahoma game, you know that Tennessee’s offensive line has about as much depth as a kiddy pool.

When Heard couldn’t play last week, the Vols were forced to rely on utility man Dayne Davis at left tackle. Knock Davis if you’d like, but he has been asked to do too much as the backup at every position. Davis, who has played valiantly, also has physical limitations compared to the best linemen in the SEC. He struggled mightily against the Sooners, but it wasn’t all his fault. Tennessee should have had a better option than Davis now that Heupel has had adequate time to recruit.

Tennessee was forced to completely abandon its offensive game plan when John Campbell Jr., left the Oklahoma game on Saturday. That forced sophomore Larry Johnson III onto the field. Johnson has some incredible upside so there’s reason to believe that the Vols can identify and land elite offensive linemen. However, Johnson, who was a transfer from Hutchinson Community College, wasn’t ready for the Sooners.

In fact, the Vols only have six offensive linemen you should feel good about if Tennessee is actually going to make a national championship run. Mays, Karic, right guard Javontez Spraggins and Campbell, when he’s healthy, are a pretty good group. Davis, when he can focus on just left tackle, would be serviceable against most of the teams the Vols will face this season.  Surely, Heard will heal up and be a solid player. However, we’ll see if he’s ever as dominant as all the hype would have you believe.

Campbell was a transfer from Miami. Karic was a transfer from Texas. So the Vols are relying on three transfers on the offensive line and two players that were recruited by former coach Jeremy Pruitt’s staff. Heupel has been at Tennessee for three full recruiting cycles. Where are the young offensive linemen that will replace the current Vols that Tennessee’s offense depends on?

The early returns on freshman William Satterwhite have been incredibly strong. Barring something unforeseen, he’ll be the Vols’ starter at center next season after Mays moves on to the NFL. Coaches have been high on Sham Umarov, but the redshirt freshman has yet to display his skills against any true competition. Redshirt freshman Vysen Lang still needs a lot of development before he’s ready to see the field against serious competition.

As for offensive tackles Bennett Warren and Max Anderson, they were both four-star prospects in the 2024 class, but have yet to make their mark. That’s also understandably true for two other offensive linemen in the 2024 class: three-star prospects Jesse Perry and Gage Ginther. 

When it comes to young, promising offensive linemen, the Vols landed the No. 1 offensive tackle in the nation when David Sanders Jr., from Charlotte, N.C. committed to the Vols in September. With Utu’s departure, the Vols have two other offensive line prospects committed to join the program in the coming months: four-star guard Nic Moore and three-star tackle prospect Antoni Kade Ogumoro. 

Does Tennessee have enough young high school offensive line prospects to truly build depth and chemistry? Probably not in 2025, but that needs to be the goal sooner rather than later. It’s become pretty obvious that depending on transfers to build an offensive line is fraught with potential issues.