Tennessee Vols: Walt Wells Has Right Approach With Offensive Line

The Tennessee Vols promoted Walt Wells this off season from an offensive assistant to offensive line coach.

A lot of aspects about the Tennessee Vols’ football program have improved since the arrival of Butch Jones, but there’s one unit which has consistently struggled — offensive line.

Part of the issue, under former offensive line coach Don Mahoney, was the mixing and matching of offensive linemen to fill whatever gaps were present.

Sometimes, injuries force that to happen. But most of the time, Mahoney and Jones were just throwing combinations of offensive linemen on the field, hoping one would stick.

New offensive line coach Walt Wells is bringing a different philosophy to Rocky Top.

Wells, speaking to the media after practice on Thursday, is hoping his players will settle in at one position by this fall.

"I’d like to settle them in at one position. But with some of the things — we’ve had some class conflicts and different things like that, you’ve just got to put the best five out there to give us a chance to move the football and do some good things. So we’ve been able to do that, which is a good cross-training in the spring. When we get into fall camp, I’d like to settle in as much as we can."

If Wells can be successful with this plan, then Tennessee should have a stronger offensive line in 2017.

Development is obviously the most important part of having a solid offensive line.

But it’s undoubtedly easier to develop a player at one position (while perhaps having the ability to switch positions — if absolutely needed), rather than having a player bouncing around from position to position.

Next: Butch Jones Words Should Give Vol Fans Hope

It’ll be a while before we know if the Walt Wells promotion paid off or not, but for now, he is at least saying the right things.