Tennessee’s offensive line has one major rule: don’t get beat inside. That repeatedly happened last week and, if the Vols hope to beat Florida tonight, it had better not happen against the Gators.

“At the end of the day, it looks like that they’ve lost what the clear rule No. 1 is, especially playing tackle on an island,” former Tennessee center Ollie Lane told Off The Hook Sports. “You cannot get beat inside. If you look at statistics across NFL college football, the quickest way, the most sophisticated way that sacks happen is getting beat inside.”

The Vols gave up four sacks against the Razorbacks. That would have been more understandable against Oklahoma the previous week, in which the Vols gave up three sacks to the Sooners. 

The Vols were down two starting offensive tackles, Lance Heard and Jon Campbell Jr., for much of the game. Heard, surprisingly, didn’t make the trip to Oklahoma. Campbell was injured in the first half. However, both were back against the Razorbacks, but were repeatedly beat on the perimeter. That certainly contributed to quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s subpar play in which he only threw for 156 yards.

“When you’re just giving up that inside, it’s cutting the pocket protection short and not allowing Nico to really step around and move anywhere,” Lane said. “However, if you force them to go (outside), that’ll give Nico at least an opportunity to step up, especially with how solid the interior has played. 

“For the most part, they’ve been setting a good depth for that pocket to allow Nico to step up a little bit, but he can’t step up when someone’s right in front of him because the tackle got beat inside.”

Lane went so far as to suggest that utility offensive lineman, Dayne Davis, should play in place of one of the tackles. Davis has been expected to back-up every position on the offensive line. However, if he were able to focus on just one position, it would be natural to think he would improve there, despite struggling against Oklahoma in place of Heard and Campbell.

“I think what they need to eventually do is just look at our tackle situation and just make a decision,” Davis said. “Is John Campbell at the state that he is at health wise that he is going to perform better than Dayne Davis? 

“I think that’s something that you just got to look at…maybe it becomes a situation where Dayne’s playing more of the handful of snaps than John is. But John’s coming in for some of those big drives or something. It’s hard to cover up poor offensive play, especially with the tackle position being the highlighted spot, but I think they can try to overcome some of it by maybe keeping the tight ends in protection to help chip block every now and then and just getting the running backs on the same schedule as us to understand who they’re truly covering, where they need to have their eyes at.”

As for Heard, well, that’s a different story.

“He is a very slow moving person,” Lane said. “There doesn’t seem to be that quick-twitch fiber in him. You need that, especially, in a quick-twitch offense. 

The question for Heard, based on his play against Arkansas, is if he is physically slow because of lack of talent or was he slowed against Arkansas because it was his first game off of a high ankle sprain that he’s been dealing with since preseason camp. Heard’s lack of speed could be due to the fact that he’s overthinking his assignments during the game.

“That’s definitely a huge factor in it,” Lane said. “When you’re not all mentally there and what the game plan is, you’re now overthinking everything. When you get into that spot of overthinking, now you’re micromanaging all your steps. You’re thinking it through way too much.”

Heard certainly has an excuse, aside from his ailing ankle. He transferred from LSU and is in his first year in Tennessee coach Josh Heupel’s system. That could lead to slow play. 

Offensive guard Andrej Karic is a prime example. He was an average offensive guard last season after transferring from Texas before the 2023 season. Now, he’s a much better player for the Vols. Lane said that there is something about getting used to Heupel’s offense in terms of tempo and comprehension.

“I would agree on that,” Lane said when asked if incoming Vols take a year to adjust. “Even our first year in the offense back in 2021, there was some slow moving parts and stuff like that. Just trying to learn everything and especially when it gets to some heated situations, the play calls get a little bit more complicated, the center’s communication gets a little bit more complicated, but I think especially you can see it in guys like Andre. 

“After a year in the offense, they’re a lot more comfortable. They know what they need to do.”

Heard may be better after a season under Heupel. However, he doesn’t have that long if the Vols hope to beat Florida in Neyland Stadium at 7 EST.