Now closing in on the beginning of preseason camp on July 31, Tennessee football is speeding toward the start of the 2024 college football season. After a 9-4 campaign in their third season under head football coach Josh Heupel, the Vols enter a new era of the sport with an expanded SEC and the 12-team College Football Playoff heading in the right direction with 20 wins over the past two seasons, but while some position groups will be relying on a handful of veteran players, other units are turning the page to newcomers or the program’s crop of up-and-coming talent. With SEC Media Days in the books and the offseason nearing its conclusion, GoVols247 this month will be ranking Tennessee football’s most important players for the upcoming season.

This will be our sixth edition of the countdown – and third under Heupel, because who knew what to expect going into his first season in 2021 – and again it will include most of Tennessee’s projected starters. It also leans heavily toward proven players over newcomers, though multiple transfers the Vols brought in from the portal will be featured, too. As happens every season, there will be unlikely players who emerge as key figures for Tennessee in 2024, but this list considers factors such as the player’s overall value for the Vols, the drop-off to their replacements if the team had to go a stretch of the season or most of a key game without them and how important their performance is to Tennessee football’s success.

The ranking continues with seventh-year senior offensive lineman John Campbell Jr. at No. 10.

PLAYER PROFILE

• Height: 6-6
• Weight: 330 pounds
• Hometown (Previous school/High school): Orlando, Fla. (Miami/Dr. Phillips HS)
• 247Sports recruiting ranking (2018): Three-star (86 rating), No. 56 offensive tackle, No. 99 in Florida
• 247Sports transfer ranking (2023): Three-star (89 rating), No. 230 overall, No. 19 offensive tackle

CAREER STATS

• 2018 (Freshman at Miami): Played in four games (24 snaps) and redshirted.
• 2019 (Redshirt freshman at Miami): Played in 11 games with two starts. Did not allow a sack or quarterback hit in 295 snaps. Started at left guard against Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl and at right tackle in the season opener against Florida.
• 2020 (Redshirt sophomore at Miami): Played in seven games and started four at left tackle.
• 2021 (Redshirt sophomore at Miami): Missed the entire season after leg surgery.
• 2022 (Redshirt junior at Miami): Started all 12 games at left tackle and finished with a 97.2% blocking efficiency on 763 snaps.
• 2023 (Redshirt senior at Tennessee): Started nine games at left tackle and allowed one sack and one quarterback hit on 538 snaps. Missed four games, including the final three, due to a lower-body injury. Went viral by blocking a Virginia player nearly into the tunnel in his Vols debut and was the SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week after the win at Kentucky.

2024 OUTLOOK

We’re not quite sure how – missing the 2021 season due to injury is probably why – but Campbell is back for a seventh season of college football and a second season at Tennessee. When he picked the Vols over Florida State and Florida out of the portal, it looked like he’d be a one-year player, but he learned before the season that he could return in 2025. He took that option after a season that saw him play well most of the way before he spent most of the final month on the sideline.

Campbell might be back at Tennessee, but he’ll start out in a new position for the Vols. The addition of LSU transfer Lance Heard prompted Campbell’s move to right tackle this offseason. Campbell’s social media actions suggested he wasn’t initially enamored with the move, but he quickly moved past it to prepare himself for what is a challenging change and spent the spring as the first-team right tackle.

After having to win a starting job going into the 2023 season, the focus now for Campbell is settling into a new role. His experience should help. One of the oldest players on the team – Campbell turns 24 next week – Campbell has played in 43 career games and started 27 times for Miami and Tennessee, amassing 1,890 snaps for his career.

WHY NO. 10?

Campbell is the first Tennessee offensive lineman on this year’s countdown, but he’s not going to be the last. That’s down to three primary factors: (1) The natural premium of the position, because if you struggle up front, you’re going to struggle to win in the SEC; (2) there’s a young franchise quarterback to protect in Nico Iamaleava; and (3) the Vols are short on depth outside of six or seven veterans. It’s hard to see Tennessee football having the kind of success it’s aiming for in 2024 without things going well on the offensive line.

There were drop-offs at quarterback and wide receiver, too, and the offensive line was far from bad – Tennessee led the SEC in rushing last season, after all – but the 2023 unit wasn’t as good as the 2022 unit. Injuries played a part as the Vols dealt with shifting lineups last season after its four of five starters rarely missed a meaningful snap in 2022. The offensive line also struggled against the best teams it played (and Florida).

Campbell is one of Tennessee’s best linemen, so naturally the Vols need him on the field and playing well like he was for the first two months of last season. His Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grade (73.5) was respectable and his value in the run game was primarily as a puller thanks to his athleticism and experience helping him get the right angles on defenders to open up lanes. He wasn’t on the field enough down the stretch, though, playing just half of the Missouri game after tweaking his ankle against Kentucky.

Last season is only so relevant with Campbell now, though, because of his position switch – he has played right tackle in a college game, but just 108 career snaps (compared to nearly 1,600 at left tackle) and none since the 2019 season for Miami. As Cooper Mays noted at SEC Media Days this week, it’s easier said than done, and the all-conference center compared flipping from left tackle to right tackle to a left-handed batter learning how to bat right-handed. Offensive line coach Glen Elarbee credited Campbell back in the spring for putting in the time and effort needed both physically on the field and mentally to make the transition as less-difficult as possible.

“The transition’s been smooth,” Campbell said in March. “I’ve just been going through it, trusting coaches, everything they’ve been telling me. When it came up to me, I’m just a team guy, so I’ll just do whatever for the team to help the team grow, so anything I’m here to do, I’m here to help. It’s fine with me, so I’m just here for the team.”

Sixth-year senior Dayne Davis provides experienced, dependable cover for both tackle spots, but he also could compete for the starting left guard spot and be the backup center. After him the Vols get unproven with second-year junior college transfer Larry Johnson III the next man up on the right side. But if the tackle tandem of Campbell and Heard are bringing execution and physicality in the run game and giving Iamaleava clean pockets, the offensive line should have a good chance at a bounce-back season.

TENNESSEE’S MOST IMPORTANT PLAYERS FOR 2024

• 20. LB Arion Carter
• 19. DL Bryson Eason
• 18. DL Joshua Josephs
• 17. DB Jourdan Thomas
• 16. DL Omari Thomas
• 15. WR Chris Brazzell II
• 14. TE Holden Staes
• 13. WR Bru McCoy
• 12. CB Jermod McCoy
• 11. WR Squirrel White