All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football roster: Projecting the Vols’ 2017 2-deep depth chart

By Caleb Calhoun

Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view of Neyland Stadium at halftime during the game between Tennessee Volunteers and the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma won 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view of Neyland Stadium at halftime during the game between Tennessee Volunteers and the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma won 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
18 of 22
Next
Sep 17, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Todd Kelly Jr. (24) tackles Ohio Bobcats tight end Mason Morgan (86) during the first half at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 17, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Todd Kelly Jr. (24) tackles Ohio Bobcats tight end Mason Morgan (86) during the first half at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /

Strong Safety

1. Todd Kelly Jr.

No surprise here. The son of Tennessee football legend Todd Kelly, Todd Kelly Jr. waited two years for his chance to start at strong safety, already generating waves as an interception machine. However, when he finally stepped into the role last year, he had to go through some growing pains and dealt with some consistency issues.

Even with that, though, the guy still had two interceptions to make eight for his career, a sack, two tackles for a loss, 71 tackles overall, a forced fumble, and two passes broken up. Going into this year, the 5’11” 208-pound senior is a leader for the Vols and, if we’re being honest, the one clear-cut starter at the safety spot.

Kelly has a chance to break out into a superstar this year, and it’s clear that he should be the starter.

2. Micah Abernathy

This is a bit of a shocker as a backup. Micah Abernathy started alongside Kelly last year at free safety. But this spring, we firmly believe Nigel Warrior took Abernathy’s job. And as a hybrid safety who can play either position, that means we had to move him over to backup strong safety on this depth chart.

That’s because there’s no way Evan Berry could adequately fill in at strong safety. Still, Abernathy is definitely the third guy on the list to step in if there is an injury to either safety, so don’t write off the 6’0″ 195-pound junior yet. He just needs to get healthy first.

Home/Vols Football