Greg McElroy, Cole Cubelic question Tennessee's offensive line entering 2025 season

As fall camps fast approach, Greg McElroy is taking some time to rank some of the top units in college football. His latest is the offensive line, and he has particular questions about the group at Tennessee.

McElroy did not include Tennessee on his list of the top 10 offensive lines in the country, much to the chagrin of Vols fans. He explained why.

“I just can’t, at this point, get on board right now knowing for sure that a true freshman, five-stars or not, can step right in to be a complete difference-maker,” McElroy said on the Always College Football podcast. “I don’t know that. They replace some nasty at guard. They replace a game-changer, I think, with what they do offensively at center. So I just can’t at this point include them in my honorable mention.”

Fellow analyst Cole Cubelic, who works for the SEC Network and was a former offensive lineman at Auburn, agreed with him. Cubelic’s also not overly high on the Tennessee unit.

“I had my top five SEC offensive lines a couple weeks ago,” Cubelic said. “Tennessee fans didn’t like it that they weren’t there. But when I’ve covered Cooper Mays for two, three years and sometimes he was dinged up, banged up, the reoccurring theme with everybody in the facility is, ‘We don’t have anybody else that can do what he can do.’

“And that’s not just physically, it’s mentally, it’s emotionally. You wonder about how that’s going to be with him now permanently being gone.”

Cubelic specifically noted what the Volunteers are losing at a few key spots on the Tennessee offensive line. He knows his ball.

“Vontez Spraggins, he was good for a penalty or two per game, but you know what? He brought some attitude and he brought some spunk and he brought some fight to that group,” Cubelic said. “I think it helped and it interjected into everybody else to sort of let them be that way on a more consistent basis.

“John Campbell is a road grader. I mean John Campbell moved people last year. Now, was he the most disciplined and consistent in pass pro? Maybe not, but he brought a lot of attitude and demeanor.”

The SEC Network analyst finished by pointing out other areas of the team could also impact how the offensive line looks. That’s a valid concern.

“You also got extra help from your tight end group last year, which some are back but not all are going to be back,” Cubelic said. “So let’s not forget you had the offensive player of the year in the backfield, who’s not going to be there for Tennessee. And I do think the O-line helped a lot with that. But there are a lot of voids to be filled on that Tennessee offensive line.

“I’m confident in the scheme, system and the way they run it. Confident in how Glen Elarbe coaches it. But I’m with you, that’s just too much to replace, to say that a freshman’s going to be able to come in and make that kind of a difference. … It’s almost impossible to come in and be that kind of a player at that spot.”