3. Colton Jumper’s development
Through the first half of the 2016 Tennessee football season, every Colton Jumper critic, myself included, has had to retract the statements we made about him. Bob Shoop and Butch Jones scared all of us at the beginning of the year when he said that Jumper would be one of the primary backups at the position.
Everybody who saw him last year simply assumed that he was not cut out for SEC football.
Well, things got even scarier early on in the season. Darrin Kirkland Jr. went down against the Virginia Tech Hokies, and the coaches were forced to put Jumper in there. He shocked the world by playing competent against the Ohio Bobcats.
Then, a week later, he had to become the leader of the linebackers after Jalen Reeves-Maybin went down. In the process, he helped to shut down the Florida Gators offense in the second half and was the biggest reason they didn’t even have a first down in all but one drive that half.
Two weeks later, Jumper did everything he could to help deliver the Vols an upset victory on the road against the Texas A&M Aggies.
Simply put, he has developed into a very reliable playmaker at linebacker, which nobody saw coming at the beginning of the year.
Sure, Jumper still struggles against some offenses. He looked awful against the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide, and there was no way he’d be able to keep up with the Aggies’ offense all day.
But the fact that he has been competent and reliable makes this a huge surprise. If he wasn’t the Vols would be 3-4 right now, not 5-2, so he deserves a lot of credit.