Josh Heupel makes bold statement on Tennessee freshman offensive lineman Addison Nichols

After the latest spring scrimmage for the Tennessee Volunteers, head football coach Josh Heupel came away impressed with the young growth of his offensive line. One player that he is specifically impressed with is Tennessee freshman Addison Nichols.

Nichols comes to Tennessee as a four-star recruit on the offensive line, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average. He is rated as a national top 170 recruit and the 11th best interior offensive lineman.

In Tennessee’s latest scrimmage, Nichols was given an opportunity to see the field more with veteran center Cooper Mays sidelined. And after the performance from Nichols, Heupel expressed serious confidence in his potential for Tennessee.

“Addison is going to be a great player, not a good one, he’s gonna be a great one here,” Heupel said of the Tennessee freshman. “Today, managing all the things that he’s seen on the other side of the line of scrimmage, getting his hand on the ball, making calls, he’s a growth in progress. Today was day ten for him. Coop’s fine and no issues, just felt like we wanted to hold him out of this one. But that’s the opportunity.

“Your young players inside your program, I don’t care where they’re at in all three phases of the game. Just the constant growth that this group has been able to show, proud of what they’ve done. You guys know that I’ve been really excited about who they are off the field, how they’ve come into our program. Excited to finish the back third of spring ball and see where we can get before we kind of break.”

Heupel is impressed not only with Nichols, but all of Tennessee’s young offensive linemen

Transitioning from high school to college football is difficult enough as it is, but it’s even more difficult for offensive lineman. Nichols and the other early enrollees for Tennessee are gaining valuable experience in the spring, and that development will be valuable for their progress moving forward.

“Yeah I think O-line and D-line, it’s one of the tougher transitions because it’s not just the speed of what you’re playing against on the other side of the line of scrimmage and the schemes that you got to understand, the fronts are so dramatically different, the amount of pressures that they see,” Heupel said. “There’s a mental side that really can be overwhelming for those guys initially.

“But then you also have the physical hand-to-hand combat of going against – you know you’re an 18-year old that should be going to your senior prom and instead you’re on the practice field competing today. Like there’s a physical element of going against a 21, 22-year old too that those guys are growing through. Love what they’re doing, believe in their future here and they’ve been a great group, offensive and defensive line. Proud of the continued growth that they’ve shown.”