Monday Musings: Vols get some help on the offensive line

Happy Monday, everyone.

Hope you’ve managed to thaw out and are getting back into the swing of things well this week. Lots of Tennessee-related happenings, so let’s get to it.

1) Tennessee got some much-needed help on their offensive line with the addition of Notre Dame transfer IOL Sam Pendleton.

Pendleton, who had interest in the Vols during his high school recruitment checks a ton of boxes for Josh Heupel. He’s experienced but still has three years remaining. He played at the highest level of football with the Irish, starting 7 games in 2024. He’s a plug and forget starter on this roster for the guard spot vacated by Javontez Spraggins’ graduation, which would be a big answer to the Vols’ big question of how they’re going to fill some big shoes on the inside of their line with Spraggins and Cooper Mays gone and Andre Kuric seeking additional eligibility. He could potentially also be an option at center, depending on how things shake out this offseason with Karic and with their other guard options.

A great piece for 2025 and beyond.

2) Things were good – and bad – on the recruiting trail on Monday.

The Vols picked up a crystal ball prediction from On3 Sports’ Steve Wiltfong for 2026 top 100 wide receiver Joel Wyatt.

Wyatt, out of The Webb School about an hour south of Nashville, is a four-star top 10 wide receiver and the #2 player in Tennessee per On3 Sports and 247. He’s got terrific size at 6’4”, 192 pounds with room to fill that frame out. Have to hope that prediction turns out to be prophetic, as Tennessee really needs to build and develop their WR room.

Unfortunately, Heupel lost a commitment Monday in four-star OL Brandon Anderson.

The #33 ranked player in the state of Georgia, Anderson committed to the Vols in October after Tennessee was red hot following wins over Florida and Alabama. He holds offers from a slew of marquee programs, including Florida, Miami, Georgia, Alabama, Texas A&M, and LSU. That’s just the nature of the beast. Hopefully Heupel can keep UT in the mix.

3) The ending of the UT-Auburn game on Saturday night was rough, but one particular moment stood out to me.

I just don’t get why Rick Barnes didn’t call timeout on the next to last possession. The one where Tennessee was down 52-51. UT had two remaining, but Barnes opted to let them play. The result was Igor Milicic, Jr. rumbling down the lane and putting up an ugly miss. It was just awkward and bad looking from the start. I said, “oh no”, when I saw him start driving. You HAVE to draw something up for Chaz Lanier at that point, and that ultimately didn’t happen.

However, I had no problem with the final play call to Zakai Zeigler. He’s a good enough shooter, and he had a good look. It just didn’t go down.

And yes, Johni Broome walked with 4 seconds left. Should have been called but wasn’t. Clearly not the reason the Vols lost, but still regrettable.

Oh well. On to a couple of huge games this week in Kentucky and Florida. Go Vols!