Tennessee offensive line coach Don Mahoney has his hands full this week. After working all offseason with an inexperienced unit, the Vols looked solid before losing starting left tackle Jacob Gilliam to a season-ending knee injury Sunday against Utah State.

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Mahoney now faces the challenge of preparing another inexperienced lineman for a starting role. While unfortunate for the former walk-on turned starter Gilliam, the situation presents an opportunity to land a starting role.

“It was tough to take the other day,” Mahoney said of Gilliam’s injury. “I’ve been doing this long enough and it’s very unfortunate but you know, it’s [a situation] in which guys have got to step up and sure enough, they’re needing to be counted on sooner than we expected.”

The three most likely candidates to land the coveted starting role at left tackle are redshirt freshman Brett Kendrick, true freshman Coleman Thomas and junior Dontavius Blair. The Tennessee coaches believe that each player has made tremendous strides despite their lack of game experience. Following Gilliam’s injury, Mahoney called upon Kendrick to fill the void at left tackle Sunday and according to the offensive line coach, he didn’t disappoint.

“He’s been the guy that’s been pretty steady for us,” Mahoney said. “So, when that happened, there was a plan in place and he responded and did some good things.”

Kendrick was rated as a three-star prospect by 247 Sports and the No. 20 overall prospect in Tennessee. He helped the Christian Academy of Knoxville football team to back-to-back TSSAA Class 3A State Championships in his junior and senior seasons.

Gilliam made his first career start Sunday after making three previous appearances for Tennessee. The Knoxville native enrolled earned a scholarship from the program and Coach Jones on May 21, 2014.

Gilliam started two years at left tackle for Knoxville-area Farragut High School, helping the team reach a 21-5 record. He earned All-Region honors as a junior and All-District and All-KIL accolades as a senior.