Tennessee kicked off fall training camp Monday at Haslam Field.
Ahead of the Vols’ first fall training camp practice, second-year defensive coordinator Tim Banks discussed expectations for redshirt senior linebacker Juwan Mitchell ahead of the season.
“Juwan was a guy who had some really significant reps for us last fall before he got injured,” Banks said. “He started to work his way back a little bit in the spring. The health issue is obviously the first thing, we’ve got to make sure he is feeling healthy, which I think we’ve turned the corner there. Then, we’ve got to see what he does as he competes for the job.
“You’ve got Jeremy Banks and Aaron Beasley coming back, we brought in Elijah Herring and you feel really good about Solon Page III, Pakk (Kwauze Garland) – we feel like we have pretty good depth that we are starting to build at that position. We felt really good about Juwan Mitchell, so it’s really up to him as we continue to see what kind of development he has made over the summer and see if that leads to him being able to contribute again, which we would hope it does.”
Mitchell appeared in three games for the Vols last season, totaling eight tackles and one pass deflection.
The 6-foot-1, 235-pound Mitchell suffered a shoulder injury and underwent surgery in 2021.
Mitchell transferred to Tennessee from Texas, appearing in 21 games from 2019-20. He totaled 101 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, three sacks, five pass deflections and recovered one fumble for the Longhorns.
Mitchell transferred to Texas from Butler Community College where he played in 12 games as a freshman, totaling 55 tackles, 7.5 tackles for a loss, two sacks, one interception and one pass breakup.
[vertical-gallery id=67126]