Tennessee Football: Freshman Vols DB Baylen Buchanan Standing Out

Tennessee football defensive back Baylen Buchanan is standing out for the Volunteers in practice. The Vols freshman already has his helmet stripe removed.

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Tennessee has found its early freshman star in Fall Camp, and he may have come as a bit of surprise considering his status as a member of the 2016 Vols recruiting class.

In a loaded secondary with lots of competition, defensive back Baylen Buchanan is the guy making the biggest headlines.

The 5’11” 190-pound freshman out of Lawrenceville, Ga. was a three-star across all the recruiting services.

But he’s the first to get the praise of the coaches.

On Wednesday, Buchanan became the first freshman to have his helmet sticker removed in practice, according to Wes Rucker of 247 Sports.

The school’s official Twitter page posted the news.

But then came Thursday. And the hype behind Buchanan grew.

Most noteworthy is who he is drawing comparisons to.

Wes Rucker posted another report on 247Sports that Buchanan has been reminding the coaches of a young Cameron Sutton.

New defensive coordinator Bob Shoop sang serious pages for one of the lowest rated recruits on the Vols’ 2016 class. Here is a quote from him in the article.

"“He’s a guy that we think can contribute now. I’ve heard people on the staff compare him to Cam Sutton when he was a freshman. He’s long, he’s athletic, he’s got good ball skills, he’s very composed.:“You watch the freshmen when they get in, their heads are spinning, they’re going 100 mph, and then you look at him, and the game’s sort of slowed down to him, and it’s very, very impressive to watch.”"

Because Buchanan is the son of former NFL star defensive back Ray Buchanan, there is a chance he would seem to be more prepared than others. After all, he has a football background, so he should be ready to go.

But he still beat out Nigel Warrior, the son of legendary Vol defensive back Dale Carter and a guy who was much more highly rated than Buchanan, in having his helmet sticker removed.

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So it appears that Baylen Buchanan is just another one of those players Butch Jones discovered to be great who was overlooked by many other teams and coaches.