What Tennessee football, Josh Heupel are getting in Kirkwood's Kamari Blair

Serina Marler will be crying "happy tears" when her son, Kamari Blair, leaves for college. There's one thing she won't miss, though: her sky-high grocery bill.

Few mothers would envy Marler's responsibility the past few years of feeding a 6-foot-6, 285-pound teenager. That now falls on Tennessee, where Blair signed to play football on national early signing day at Kirkwood on Dec. 3.

Blair began his high school career as a tight end before gaining nearly 100 pounds in three years, blossoming into a four-star offensive lineman ranked by 247Sports Composite as the nation's No. 152 recruit. He's part of a Volunteers 2026 class that ranks No. 5 nationally, the highest of coach Josh Heupel's five-year tenure. And as long as Blair keeps growing, Kirkwood coach Chad Watson believes Heupel will have a cornerstone at tackle.

"He's a great kid," Watson said. "He's got a lot of upside. He's going to improve dramatically once he gets in a college weight room. He's going to play hard and he's going to represent the program in the right way."

MORE: Why Tennessee football signee Kamari Blair said Knoxville felt like home

Blair was a semifinalist for Tennessee Titans Mr. Football in Class 5A after helping Kirkwood go 9-3 and win its first playoff game in school history. Playing both sides of the line, he had 77 pancake blocks on offense and 36 tackles, 14 TFLs and six sacks on defense during the regular season.

"I've never been a vocal leader," he said. "But I think this year when I needed to lock in, my teammates to lock in, I think we got it done because I was there to kind of steer them in the right direction."

Priority No. 1 for Blair once he gets to Knoxville is adding weight — he grinned when thinking about the five meals a day that will be provided by UT's nutrition program. He's hoping more muscle mass will allow him to see playing time as soon as possible. The Vols' coaches don't plan on working him in at guard, instead seeing him as a "true tackle."

"He's got the frame and the length to play tackle, but he's also got that athletic ability where he can be on an island with a collegiate edge," said Watson, a former offensive lineman at Austin Peay. "He checks all the boxes, and from talking to Coach (Glen) Elarbee, that's where they plan on using them."

Blair will enroll early at Tennessee, having taken classes all summer in order to graduate from high school this month. Originally committed to South Carolina, he was heavily influenced to flip by Elarbee, the Vols' offensive line coach.

Elarbee built trust with Blair by being unafraid to tell him the "bad news" — if UT was set to offer another lineman, for example, and giving him a strict window for him to make his decision.

"He would never pressure me," Blair said. "He would just tell me, hey, this is probably what's gonna happen, shooting straight about the O-line depth and all that stuff."

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at [email protected] and on X/Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: What Kirkwood's Kamari Blair brings to Tennessee football