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Tennessee Vols Safety Nigel Warrior Did Not Deserve a Spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team

By Caleb Calhoun

Sep 17, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Nigel Warrior (18) and Ohio Bobcats running back Papi White (4) dive for a fumble during the second half at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 28 to 19. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 17, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Nigel Warrior (18) and Ohio Bobcats running back Papi White (4) dive for a fumble during the second half at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 28 to 19. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tennessee Volunteers safety Nigel Warrior was named to the Freshman All-SEC team Thursday. However, he did not deserve that recognition.

Let’s first congratulate Nigel Warrior. The son of Tennessee football legend Dale Carter showed great potential as a freshman for the Vols this year, and his future is promising.

He was a four-star recruit on Rivals, and his strengths as a speedster, a tackler, and a closer are to be commended.

However, the freshman safety had absolutely no business being named to this year’s Freshman All-SEC team.

Warrior saw action in the final six games of the year.

In those six games, he took part in a historically bad defense. Tennessee gave up 49 points to the Alabama Crimson Tide, allowed over 600 yards in back to back games to the Kentucky Wildcats and Missouri Tigers, including over 700 yards to the Tigers, and then surrendered 45 points to a terrible Vanderbilt Commodores offense.

Oh, and Jake Bentley with the South Carolina Gamecocks’ historically bad offense managed to look like Peyton Manning against the Vols while Warrior playing. He misread one play that turned into a touchdown and ended up being the difference.

How could you justify anything about that earning him All-SEC if he only played in games when the defense was awful?

You can’t.

Don’t give me the shutout over Tennessee Tech. We shouldn’t waste our time with FCS schools.

And before you bring up Derek Barnett’s accolades when I criticize this defense, note that there’s a huge difference. Barnett played all season long, including when the unit was constantly getting stops.

That’s why he, Corey Vereen, and Kendal Vickers all get passes on this.

And Barnett and Vereen have the stats. That’s the next piece to this puzzle.

Warrior had 19 solo tackles on the year and 22 overall. Those numbers do not warrant first team Freshman All-SEC.

And he has no fumbles forced, no interceptions, no pass deflections, and only one tackle for a loss.

All the other defensive backs on the list have better stats than him. And some others that aren’t on the list have better stats. Larry Pryor of the Texas A&M Aggies, T.J. Warren of Missouri, Myles Hartsfield of the Ole Miss Rebels, Daniel Thomas of the Auburn Tigers, and Chauncey Gardner of the Florida Gators should all be in there over him.

They were all robbed with Warrior being in there.

Now remember, this is not meant to be a personal attack on Nigel Warrior. Again, he has shown enough flashes of greatness that he will likely be a superstar very soon.

I say he is going to be better than any of the freshmen that I am currently saying should be freshmen All-SEC members over him.

After all, Warrior’s ability to close in on running plays, his speed, and his intelligence are all impressive. They were good enough to pass the eye test for many voters.

But the eye test did not always translate into results, and Warrior did not produce the same results other freshmen defensive backs in the SEC did.

So he does not deserve recognition over those other freshmen. Not yet.

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