Pair of former Vols players land starting jobs in the SEC ahead of the 2024 season after transferring from Tennessee

A pair of former Tennessee Vols players were named as starters this week at their new SEC program.

Former Vols defensive back Doneiko Slaughter and former Vols offensive lineman Addison Nichols both left Knoxville earlier this offseason for Arkansas.

And both players will be starters for the Razorbacks in week one according to the depth chart that was released by Arkansas on Monday.

Slaughter is listed as the Razorbacks' starting nickelback. Nichols is listed as the starting center for Arkansas, which is an interesting development after Nichols never emerged as a starting center option in Josh Heupel's unique up-tempo offense at Tennessee.

"It's completely different than it was at Tennessee," said Nichols earlier this offseason about the transition to the Razorbacks' offense. "Tennessee was a very simple, quick, high tempo offense, so everything was a lot simpler. Here (at Arkansas), it's [a] very, very, very difficult playbook and that was definitely something I had to adjust to. And there was a lot of stuff that I hadn't even heard of before. That's just one of the things that I'm kind of adding to my toolbox. I'm able to know that much more and learn from incredible minds in Coach (Sam) Pittman, Coach (Bobby) Petrino, and Coach (Eric) Mateos. It was definitely difficult, but once you've got it down, it's pretty simple."

Nichols and Slaughter will see their old Tennessee teammates on October 5 when the Vols visit Fayetteville for a showdown against Arkansas. It will be Tennessee's first game against the Razorbacks since the COVID-impacted 2020 season (a game that Arkansas won 24-13).

Related: Former Sooners QB Jason White offers strong comments on Josh Heupel's time at Oklahoma and Heupel's exit from Norman