Trevor Daniel to Start at Punter for Tennessee Vols Saturday vs. Bowling Green

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Butch Jones announced Wednesday that Trevor Daniel will start at punter for the Tennessee Vols Saturday against the Bowling Green Falcons.


The Tennessee Volunteers football team has a proven fifth-year senior who transferred from the Maryland Terrapins and a high-profile freshman who is supposed to be as good as any Colquitt to walk through the gates of Neyland Stadium, but Butch Jones is turning to a walk-on to be his starting punter Saturday.

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Jones announced in his Wednesday press conference that Daniel, who is a redshirt sophomore, will start when the Vols face off against the Bowling Green Falcons. The decision is shocking considering who was up for the job.

Nate Renfro transferred from Maryland after a very good season last year, and he has proven to be consistent. We know what we can do.

Meanwhile, Tommy Townsend is a freshman who is supposed to be so good that he could win the Ray Guy Award this year. So why would Jones go with the walk-on who was never supposed to be in the running?

Let him explain it. Here are quotes from the transcript of the Wednesday press conference on UTSports.

"“I will tell you right now that Trevor Daniel will have the first punt of the year and, so Trevor Daniel will go into the game being our starting punter. But again that’s a position where Nate Renfro has done a very good job, Tommy Townsend has done a very good job and both those other two individuals will travel. This will be an ongoing competition just like it is at every single position for us and it is all performance based, but all three individuals have done a very good job. We just thought at this point and time Trevor has been a little more consistent in terms of his hang time, his ball placement, the length of his punts, but just overall consistency. Also, the specialty kicks with the pooch kicking, and everything that goes into that. I think he really benefitted from a full spring as well.”"

So Daniel is not cemented as the starter yet, but the job is his to lose, and that is shocking.

But perhaps it’s good news and he was just that much better than the other two guys. We’ll know on Saturday.

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