UT appears set at linebacker

"What we went through last year, it helps us with our depth this year," senior LaMarcus Thompson said after Tuesday morning’s practice. "A lot of young guys got to get in there and got to play. With everybody back and everybody healthy, that’s going to help our linebacker depth, hopefully have that be a strength." The challenging season began when Nick Reveiz, the defense’s quarterback, tore the ACL his right knee against Ohio. Four games later, Savion Frazier, his replacement also tore his ACL. Herman Lathers, then a redshirt freshman, started the last five games despite a blood disorder that required offseason spleen-removal surgery. Thompson missed two games himself at outside linebacker, one coming after he was immobilized and carted off the field on a stretcher with a scary neck injury late in the fourth quarter of UT’s loss to Ole Miss "We weren’t where we wanted to be last year as a unit," said Lathers, a All-SEC Freshman selection last year. "It’s always tough to see one of your teammates go down cause they’re like a brother to you," Thompson said. "You feel it inside, and you just have to be there for them to get them back right and get them back healthy." The return of linebacker coach Lance Thompson has eased the transition from former coordinator 's defense to current coordinator Justin Wilcox’s new schemes. "Just having our same position coach and knowing how he coaches and what he expects of us is a big help to us as a unit," Lathers said. "He was able to relate a lot of Coach Wilcox’s defensive calls to Monte’s calls, and we were able to pick up from there."