Tennessee football had five players on Athlon’s 2017 Preseason All-SEC teams. The Volunteers are also No. 19 in the magazine’s Preseason Top 25.
The same week they came in at No. 19 on Athlon’s preseason Top 25 poll for 2017, Tennessee football also had five players make the magazine’s preseason All-SEC team.
The Vols had one first-teamer and four third-teamers.
The only first-team All-SEC player was kick returner Evan Berry, who was an All-American return specialist two years ago.
On the third team, Trevor Daniel was another special team player, making it as a punter.
The other guys on the third team were linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr., offensive lineman Jashon Robertson, and wide receiver Jauan Jennings.
With only five guys spread out across four teams, Tennessee football tied the Vanderbilt Commodores, Ole Miss Rebels, and South Carolina Gamecocks for fewest players making it onto one of the rosters.
The Alabama Crimson Tide, meanwhile, didn’t just have nearly three times as many players overall. They had nearly twice as many players, nine, make the First Team All-SEC as the Vols had make all four rosters.
Nobody else had more players make First Team All-SEC than the Vols had across all four teams.
But they still almost all had better showings than Tennessee football.
That’s pretty odd considering the fact that Athlon had Tennessee as one of the six SEC teams in the Top 25.
However, the Vols are in a unique situation this year.
Although they didn’t lose too many players from 2016, many of the players they lost were key players. That includes their quarterback in Joshua Dobbs.
So they have a lot of returning talent, which is enough to keep them in preseason Top 25 rankings. But it’s a lot of unproven talent, which is why they don’t have a lot of players receiving preseason recognition.
It really leaves this year completely up in the air when it comes to how successful they could be.