Everything Tennessee offensive line coach Glen Elarbee said about his group's development

Tennessee was in full gear on Monday to start the Vols second week of spring practice ahead of their first scrimmage of the spring on Wednesday. 

For the Tennessee offensive line, transfer Lance Heard is trying to set settled in at left tackle with John Campbell getting acclimated with his flip to the right side. 

The search is on for a left guard as well. Offensive line coach Glen Elarbee met with the media on Monday to update where his things stand with his offensive front. 

Coach. Just where do you think Lance is in terms of adjusting here and kind of how is he where you thought he would be at this point or, or kind of your thoughts on him through a week and a half? 

Yeah, I mean, I think he’s adjusting really, really well. I think he’s done it the right way, kind of stay quiet and speak up when he needs to. He has flash and had some really, really good bright spots. He’s still young and we’re still working on some things technique wise, but man, he comes to work every single day. The room loves him too. When you have to jump in and go at pace sometimes there’s a little bit of adjustment, but man, I think he’s right on schedule. 

He’s a joy walking in every day.

You guys again this off season are trying to look for your options behind Cooper and Center. A couple of those young guys, Vysen and William are getting there. How has that progression for them and has that been hard for those guys that they weren’t centers in high school

I think there’s a transition piece obviously with snapping football. They put in time and they’re working the butts off at it for sure. Vysen (Lang), we’ve gotta take steps, physicality and movement and all those things. I think he’s made a big effort. He knows the spot he’s in. He’s fighting training, competing every day, doing a great job. Sat (Satterwhite) and it’s tough to walk in from high school when all of a sudden at times you’re taking some pretty heavy reps against Big E (Bryson Eason) or Omari (Thomas) that’s a tall task and he’s, he’s fought through every bit of it, man. The guy’s got a great attitude, just really proud him. 

Obviously related to Lance coming in. John slipped over to the right side, how, I think he played there some in Miami, right. But how, how’s that transition gone? Is that a pretty seamless thing since he is a veteran? 

Credit to him. He’s put in a ton of work in both on the field and in the film room. and mentally and has been a great leader while doing it. I can’t say enough good about him. It is not that guys haven’t done it here. It’s just, it’s not as easy as you want to be and if you don’t put in the time and effort and it’s a tougher transition. He’s been been awesome just, and can’t say enough good about him.

Last year you had Ollie kind of step up and, and you know, obviously play some center. I know Dane’s a guy that can play some center guard tackle to have a guy like that who’s been in the program for several years that can be a swing guy. How important was he to this specific line room? 

Ollie last year, man was like some rubber ball. That poor guy had to move and got banged up and fought through everything. Dayne’s (Davis) kind of picked up where he left off one leadership wise. So he’s helping command some of that room. He’s gotten, I need you left guard, man. I need you to right guard. Oh crap, I need you to jump in there and center. You know what, hey, I know you already played all three, but can you go back out the right tackle? Like he, he doesn’t miss a beat and I always feel so bad, so I walk up to him, I got this face like, he’s like, I got it. 

And he just he knows that I gotta bounce over here for us to be our best at practice today and shoot man, he just goes out and does it and I think earns the respect to that room, the way he fights through it every single day and doesn’t say a word and just knows everything. 

With Lance Heard. What about his skillset makes him a good fit for this offense and what’s gonna be the biggest challenge for him in it? 

I think one he got unbelievable length and natural ability. So protecting the passer is gonna be a big improvement and he’s just a big human. The ability to go move four eyes in the run game. I felt like Nell (Darnell Wright), that’s where he changed our run game a lot that he could go and just did a four eye. I feel like Lance has that ability to. I don’t know if it’s necessarily the offense or just man, he’s still young. He got to LSU in the summer had play in the fall, like he’s really just going through his first off season. 

So some of the intricacies of just learning the game inside and out. He knows it, but there’s nothing like experience and reps just build that bank of what’s going on, how to adjust in certain situations. So I think that’s just part of his growth and development. 

I know Dane is versatile, but is he specifically working at guard this spring or a little bit all over then at two? How is Sham looking on the inside? 

Yeah, he probably taking the majority of reps at guard. Sham has taken steps. He’s gotta continue to work on pad level. He has got some natural ability to be able to redirect and kind of get out of bad body positions. It speeds up the closer you get to the ball, the game speeds up for where there’s more going on, it happens faster. 

So it, that part of, it’s a little bit of an adjustment for him, but he’s again, poor guy man. He’s had to play some guard, had to go back out and tackle. He never blinks. He has an unreal attitude. You see Sham before practice and guy’s ready to run through the wall. So that’s, that’s all you can ask. He’ll keep taking steps, hopefully have a great scrimmage.

Specifically to the guard spot with, with not having Spraggins out there. Is there somewhat of a blessing in that from a standpoint it forces you to build more depth and create more competition. And what does your competition at guard look like?

For sure, that’s the silver lining. We’re building death. The young guys are getting tons and tons of reps, tons of looks. I told them all day before the first day of pads, I was like, man, there’s probably gonna be some dark moments here for the next three weeks. There’s gonna be light at the end of the tunnel. You’ll be better for it. We’ll be better as a team for it. And man, we get to fall camp, our depth will be right where you want it. You know, right now at guard you, (Jackson) Lampley has had a real solid spring at right guard. 

Dayne’s as reliable and dependable as you can get a left guard. We really haven’t missed a beat with those two. And then, you’re just trying to build that depth, get Sham to continue to take steps, (Ayden) Bussell has to take steps. Max (Anderson) has come in and done a really nice job having to play inside and out. So those are the guys. You feel like you get Andre (Kuric). You feel like you get Spraggins back now you create some competition at that one spot and then you’ve kind of helped yourself. You got some depth there and even your threes are guys that have taken a bunch of snaps.

What did you guys see in Trevor Duncan that sort of made, that made him a natural fit to move to the office of line? How’s that transition gone so far? 

Really long, athletic, smart. That’s a pretty good combination there. He like showed up at my house with some of the guys for dinner and I was like typically if you’re a d lineman, you run away from the o-line coach. He can’t get anywhere near that guy. I think it’s been a good transition for him. 

Great kid. He’s so long and athletic. He’s built like a tackle. He’s got to put on the weight. The transition of learning it’s a different process. It makes sense for him. I think he’s enjoying it too. It’ll be fun for him.