Tennessee football: Four Vols make Preseason All-SEC teams
Tennessee football had six players go in the NFL Draft, but only four Volunteers made 2017 preseason All-Southeastern Conference teams.
Four straight top 20 recruiting classes with two veteran classes that were in the top five clearly doesn’t take you that far in the SEC. That’s what Tennessee football is dealing with heading into the 2017 season.
As SEC Media Days came to an end, analysts only put four Vols on preseason All-SEC teams. That’s across three teams by the way.
And none of them made first team.
Senior offensive lineman Jashon Robertson and kick returner Evan Berry both made second-team All-SEC.
Senior punter Trevor Daniel and junior wide receiver Jauan Jennings both made third-team.
The Vols were among the Mississippi State Bulldogs and everybody else in the SEC East outside of the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs with no first-team All-SEC players.
However, only five teams had more overall All-SEC players than them. In addition to Florida and Georgia, those teams were the Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU Tigers, and the Auburn Tigers.
At the same time, though, the Ole Miss Rebels had just as many players as the Vols with a first-team All-SEC appearance, meaning they had a better showing.
Also, while the Texas A&M only had three players, the Aggies had a pair of first-teamers, and one of those players, Christian Kirk, made three different spots.
So they had a better showing as well when you break it down.
Simply put, the Vols have lots of young talent, but not a lot of it is proven. With so many injuries last year and the key players gone, Butch Jones’s team is having to take much more of a no-stars approach this year.
In fact, Robertson may actually be the biggest star along with Jennings. Berry is up in the air since he’s returning from injury.
And Daniel still has consistency issues at times as a punter.
So it’s understandable why they only have four first-teamers. But it’s up to the team this Fall to prove they should have had more.