Former Tennessee Vols offensive lineman who left after the 2024 season expected to start for Big 12 program this fall

A former Tennessee Vols offensive lineman who left the program following the 2024 season appears to be on track to start at his new school.

Offensive tackle Larry Johnson was expected to compete with true freshman David Sanders Jr during fall camp for the Vols' starting right tackle job.

Instead, Johnson entered the transfer portal in late April. He landed with the Colorado Buffaloes a short time later.

Johnson appears to be locked in as Colorado's starting right tackle after a strong performance during fall camp in Boulder.

"He looks like the starting right tackle for this football team," said DNVR's Scott Proctor this week of Johnson. "And that's going to be a massive upgrade over the situation of the last two years of the Coach Prime era here at Colorado."

“He’s a mauler,” added offensive line coach Gunnar White of Johnson. “The goal is to run the ball, so we gotta have bodies like that."

Sanders, a former five-star recruit from Charlotte, had a great fall camp for Tennessee. It's unlikely that Johnson would've won the right tackle job over Sanders had he remained in Knoxville.

The loss of Johnson to the transfer portal, however, was still a big blow to Tennessee's offensive line depth. Johnson almost certainly would've seen some action for the Vols this fall. Instead, he'll be looking to help Colorado find success in the post-Shedeur Sanders era.