Trevarris Saulsberry will be a part of the Tennessee football program for the 2015 season.

Tennessee rising fifth-year senior defensive tackle Trevarris Saulsberry (Photo: Knoxville News Sentinel)

He might not be a player, though. He might be a student coach.

Saulsberry, a rising fifth-year senior defensive tackle and team leader, is facing an uncertain future on the field but “absolutely” will be a part of the Vols football program for 2015, coach Butch Jones confirmed to GoVols247.

Despite recording just 15 tackles and playing in just 13 games to this point in his college career, the 6-foot-4, 296-pound Saulsberry has developed into one of Tennessee’s biggest and best locker-room leaders. He’s been pegged as a big part of the defensive-tackle rotation each of the past two seasons but played just four games in 2013 and five games in 2014 because of knee and shoulder problems that have forced him to undergo multiple surgeries.

Citing student privacy laws, Jones declined to go into specifics regarding Saulsberry’s most pressing health problem or problems at the moment, but it’s widely understood that at least one of his knees has deteriorated to the point where he’d comfortably qualify for a legitimate medical scholarship —Â which would allow him to further his education on scholarship without counting against the team’s NCAA allotment of 85 football scholarships.

Jones said Saulsberry and Tennessee’s staff would like the former Gainesville (Fla.) High School standout to play as a fifth-year senior for the 2015 season, but all sides involved are taking a wait-and-see approach and trying to think more about the next several decades of his life than the next few months.

“Trevarris is a great individual, and this football program means a lot to him,” Jones told GoVols247. “Right now he’s taking it day by day. If he’s not able to play, then he’ll be a student coach for us and work on his master’s degree. If he’s able to give us some quality reps, then that would be great, too.

“But really, it’s about life after football for him. It’s about how his body can heal, how it goes through the rehabilitation process, whether there will be effects after football. Those are all things that we’re going through right now with Trevarris.”

Jones insisted that nothing about Saulsberry’s toughness has come into question at any point during the process, and the Tennessee staff has appreciated everything it’s been able to get out of the defensive tackle — which always has been everything he could give, the coach added.

(Photo: Knoxville News Sentinel)

“He’s one of those individuals who has transformed into the culture here,” Jones said. “He’s leading our younger kids. He’s always very, very positive, and it’s contagious. We always want to reward those kinds of players in our program.

“We like having him around. He’s great for us.”

Tennessee defensive line coach Steve Stripling praised Saulsberry's character and toughness several times last season, saying he'd grown to respect the player a lot — and not just as a football player.

"He's just a great guy to be around. He really is," Stripling said after one practice late in the 2014 season. "Being around that young man every day is a joy."

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