Three Vols Make Phil Steele’s Pre-Season All-American Teams

August 31, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Tennessee Volunteers offensive linesman Antonio Richardson (74) celebrates in the second half against the North Carolina State Wolfpack at the Georgia Dome. Tennessee beat NC State 35-21. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday Phil Steele released his pre-season All-SEC teams, which featured eight Vols.

Today Steele released his 2013 pre-season All-American teams.

The final tally for Volunteers among the four All-American teams?

That would be Three.

• OT – Antonio Richardson – Second Team
• LB – AJ Johnson – Third Team
• DT – Daniel McCullers – Fourth Team

Despite the Vols losing a high percentage of their roster to graduation and the NFL, they’ve still been very well represented this pre-season.

Johnson, McCullers and Richardson were all also included in Mel Kiper’s initial “Big Board” for the 2014 NFL Draft.

That is a good, and also bad thing for Vol fans.

While it’s nice to see your players recognized, it also means you could be losing players early to the draft.

McCullers is of course a senior, he’ll be gone regardless after 2013.

Johnson and Richardson on the other hand are juniors. Vol fans definitely don’t want to see either of these guys leave early, but with all the pre-season attention they’re getting, and with possible big seasons ahead of them, it’s probably inevitable that they’ll be NFL bound in 2014.

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