Tennessee will kick off its 2022 season Sept. 1 versus Ball State at Neyland Stadium.
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. EDT and SEC Network will televise the season-opening matchup.
Ahead of the Vols’ first game, second-year offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Alex Golesh discussed Tennessee’s competition at left tackle between Jeremiah Crawford and Gerald Mincey.
“I think the best thing for both of those guys is that there was real competition in there, and they both knew they couldn’t have a bad day,” Golesh said. “Inherently, Coach (Glen) Elarbee has rotated both of them. They’ve both gotten to play next to Jerome (Carvin). I feel good with both those guys. They’re different players. They’re both inexperienced, but they’re different, so they both have weaknesses, they both have strengths.
“I don’t know that you call the game any different with either one in there by any means, but I think, again, similar to the freshmen, J.J.’s played some and Gerald’s played some. Just not a ton, and not a ton of meaningful reps, so you go in, you kind of let it sort out as they go. They’ll both play, and we’ll see who it is that we have more sync with. If it’s both of them, awesome. We’ll be deeper there than we felt like we were a year ago.”
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