Top 10 Incoming Tennessee Vols Freshmen Most Likely to Have an Immediate Impact

Nov 22, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; A general view of Neyland Stadium home of theTennessee Volunteers following the game against the Missouri Tigers. Missouri won 29-21. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

While the defensive tackle situation has already been covered, it is clear that there is nobody in the middle that irreplaceable, and McKenzie or Tuttle could easily take one of those starting spots. And yes, we are calling for McKenzie to take one of those spots.

The guy is too elite of a defensive tackle to come in and ride the bench for a year, so he needs to see a lot of action immediately. And he likely will. At the very least, once again, he will be in the rotation, but the defensive line situation is not too stacked right now, especially at defensive tackle, if you’re talking about depth.

So with McKenzie you have a player who will at least be in the rotation, could win a starting job, and still could step in for an injured player if he does not win a starting job.

All of those things make this incredibly gifted freshman a great candidate to be an early impact player.

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Kahlil McKenzie

Defensive Tackle, Concord, Calif. (Clayton Valley Charter)

Now here is where we get to players who would be on this list no matter what simply because of the talent level they are expected to be at as freshmen. Kahlil McKenzie is one of those players at defensive tackle. We already mentioned Shy Tuttle, who has a ton of hype surrounding him and should develop into a really good player for the Vols.

McKenzie is a player on another level from that, though. The No. 1 defensive tackle and No. 6 overall player in the country, McKenzie stands at 6’4″ 340 pounds and will simply be able to blow up any offensive line that tries to block him at all. He is also ranked the No. 3 player across the state of California.

While the defensive tackle situation has already been covered, it is clear that there is nobody in the middle that irreplaceable, and McKenzie or Tuttle could easily take one of those starting spots. And yes, we are calling for McKenzie to take one of those spots.

The guy is too elite of a defensive tackle to come in and ride the bench for a year, so he needs to see a lot of action immediately. And he likely will. At the very least, once again, he will be in the rotation, but the defensive line situation is not too stacked right now, especially at defensive tackle, if you’re talking about depth.

So with McKenzie you have a player who will at least be in the rotation, could win a starting job, and still could step in for an injured player if he does not win a starting job.

All of those things make this incredibly gifted freshman a great candidate to be an early impact player.

Next: #1: Drew Richmond-OL