Freshman LB Herring 'Exciting' Vols Coaching Staff

Elijah Herring got off to a solid start in spring practice as the Vols were shorthanded at the inside linebacker position. While the situation was ideal for the team at the time, it still allowed Herring to earn valuable reps, and since then, he has continued to make strides that are "exciting" the Tennessee coaching staff. 

In fact, his position coach, Brian Jean-Mary, occasionally forgets that Herring is just a true freshman. 

“Sometimes I forget,” Jean-Mary said earlier this week. “He looks like he’s 25 years old when you look at him in the face, and you forget this was a kid that left high school early and was able to come through spring. I look for him to be a contributor this year. Obviously, he’s still being a freshman. He still has a lot to prove. But we’ve been very excited about him, as a whole staff.”

Now that Herring is in the full swing of things during fall camp, Jean-Mary believes it is all starting to come together for him. 

“I think now the lights are on for real,” Jean-Mary said. “We’re preparing for a game. I think he was a little nervous at first, with the magnitude of, we’re getting into camp and we’re a month away from playing. But Elijah’s as mature of a freshman as you can find.”

Herring has continued to look the part during fall camp, and his impressive  6'2", 227lbs stature should allow him to be a part of the Vols rotation, if needed, in 2022. 

Herring has noted that the game has started to "slow down" for him during fall camp as he continues to look for anyway to help his team. 

His goal for this season is to, "start on special teams." Tennessee's 2-deep rotation at linebacker this week has featured Jeremy Banks and Aaron Beasley as the starters, followed by Juwan Mitchell and William Mohan. 

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