It didn’t take Tennessee’s football players long to notice Arkansas defensive lineman Landon Jackson. The Vols know they have to contain the elite pass rusher in order to beat the Razorbacks on Saturday.
“First glance,” Tennessee center Cooper Mays said when asked how long it took the Vols to notice the 6-foot-7, 280-pound defensive end when studying the Razorbacks. “Look on the tape. I mean, the guy’s looking good…He’s a big D-end that’s physical and very athletic to go along with it.”
Mays won’t block Jackson that often. He’ll be handled by Tennessee’s offensive tackles, which could be an issue. Roll back to the Vols’ last game, a 25-15 win over Oklahoma, and you might recall that Tennessee had a serious issue at offensive tackle, mostly due to injuries.
Starting left tackle Lance Heard didn’t make the trip due to an ankle injury. Starting right tackle Jon Campbell Jr., was knocked out of the game with a lower leg injury against Oklahoma in the first half. That meant the Vols had to rely on Dayne Davis, who is forced to backup several positions on the offensive line, and Larry Johnson III, who had yet to see significant playing time against a quality opponent.
Neither Heard nor Campbell were even listed on Tennessee’s injury report. Unless UT coach Josh Heupel is having some fun with gamesmanship leading into the Arkansas game, the Vols should be at full strength against the Razorbacks.
Just how big was the off week for Tennessee’s offensive line?
“Super big,” Mays said. “Anytime you’re a little bit banged up, really just any time you’re playing in the SEC, anytime you play for a stretch of five, six or seven weeks – or four weeks in our case.
“In that amount of time, if you play that many weeks in a row, you’re going to need some time to rest and recuperate a little bit. So that’s definitely needed.”
Whoever is in at left tackle, they’ll have their hands full. Jackson registered his second career game with multiple sacks when he did so against Texas A&M last week. After transferring from LSU following the 2021 season, Jackson has grown into one of the most formidable defensive ends in the nation.
Jackson is on just about every watch list that a defensive player could be a part of, including the Bronko Nagurski Award, the Chuck Bednarik Award and the Lombardi Award. Jackson was named second-team All-American by a number of committees as well. So far, he’s lived up to the billing.
Jackson has 18 tackles this season, including two sacks and two pass deflections. However, he’s not going to surprise anyone. With his size and ability, it doesn’t take long to see that Jackson is an exceptional player.
Said Mays, “First play.”
