Tennessee Football: Niehaus loss doesn’t hurt the Vols

On Wednesday we learned that Nathan Niehaus would be retiring from football but losing him isn’t a huge loss for the Vols.

Offensive lineman Nathan Niehaus retired from football on Wednesday and gave his reasoning on Thursday. He said he’s calling it quits “due to sustained injuries and the overlapping wear on my body.”

Fair enough you can’t be upset with a guy for retiring so he isn’t injured or hurting all the time. The long term pain some players go through isn’t worth it for some guys, and I don’t blame them if they want to avoid that.

This loss is unfortunate due to the offensive line depth not being great over the past few years. Niehaus was a starter last year, but by the looks of it, he had fallen down the depth chart some so he wouldn’t have made as huge of an impact on the field for the Vols.

He could have even fallen to one of the last second-string reserves or even to third-string. Having that big of a fall in the depth chart in an offseason can be tough on a player and could force him to quit.

I’m not saying that’s why he quit, but it could’ve been one of the motives. With the new and improved offensive line for the 2019 season losing Niehaus isn’t as big of a loss as it would be last year.

Now if we have some linemen go down this season, then Jeremy Pruitt might sit down with Niehaus and see if he will reconsider, but hopefully, we don’t fall to that point. We have some great young talent on the offensive line, and we don’t need to waste that talent.

This is also an opportunity for Pruitt to show the players just because you’re an upperclassman or have more experience than these young guys coming in doesn’t mean you will keep your job as a starter. Everything is earned, and that’s how it should be.

I truly do hate it for him though he was decent upfront last season and could’ve been an asset wherever he would have been used for this season, but he’s gone now, so it’s time to move on.

The offensive line is much better than what it was last year, and that’s one of the most exciting position groups I want to see in Week 1. I hate that Niehaus has chosen not to be apart of that, but he needs to do what’s best for him, and right now it’s protecting his health.

His loss is unfortunate for the Vols, but it doesn’t necessarily hurt them upfront. Tennessee has plenty of guys willing to stand up and take his place, and that’s what they’ll do.