Tennessee Football Smokey Points: Top 5 Vols Performers in the Music City Bowl

Speaking of playmaking junior for Tennessee football that might leave early for the NFL, Derek Barnett delivered the greatest encore of the night for the Vols if the Music City Bowl was indeed his last game.

Going into the game tied with Reggie White as the school’s all-time leader in career sacks while doing it in just three years, everybody was watching to see if Barnett could break the record.

But before getting to that, let’s focus on his process of doing it. Barnett pressured Ryker Fyfe all night and continued to get hits on him.

With four quarterback hurries, he ruined plenty of plays on Nebraska’s side without getting a sack. One of those hurries actually was a strip-sack, but the refs ruled it incomplete, so he was robbed of the record. Still, he was a force on the line all night.

And Barnett showed his versatility as well, making three open field tackles, including one that snuffed out a bubble screen.

Overall, he had six tackles, five of which were solo, in addition to those hurries. Oh, and he broke up two passes. So he did everything and more than enough to already be on the list.

But with the clock winding down in the fourth quarter, he finally got that elusive sack. Bob Shoop lined him up on the right side to catch Nebraska off-guard, and against that elite line, he rushed to Ryker Fyfe to get the tackle and set the school record for career sacks.

His play stopped the game for a minute, as it should have. And Barnett, who has been a playmaker for three years in Knoxville, cemented himself as one of the greatest defensive players in Tennessee football history.

That plus his performance in this game is more than enough to put him on this list.