Tennessee football: Could Tim Jordan be Vols No. 2 RB over Ty Chandler?

By Caleb Calhoun | Aug 29, 2017

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 12: A general view of the stadium during a game between the UCLA Bruins and the Tennessee Volunteers on September 12, 2009 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. UCLA beat Tennessee 19-15. (Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images) /

Tennessee football running back John Kelly is the starter this year. But could Volunteers freshman Tim Jordan shock the world and take the No. 2 spot?

Related Story: Top 10 takeaways from Vols fall camp

Heading into fall camp, consensus was that Tennessee football had its starter at running back in John Kelly. That hasn’t changed.

But the question arose as to who would back him up. And analysts initially narrowed the race for the No. 2 back down to Carlin Fils-Aime, the only other guy with experience in the system, and Ty Chandler, a true freshman in-state back who was a four-star recruit with hype close to the level of Trey Smith.

The other two true freshman running backs, Tim Jordan and Trey Coleman, were three-stars we expected to redshirt this year. Neither made our post ranking the freshmen most likely to play immediately.

However, it looks like one running back is throwing those expectations for a loop.

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Although Chandler was impressive this fall camp with his running abilities, Tim Jordan appears to be the freshman who stole the show.

The lowest-rated recruit of the 2017 Tennessee football running back class, Jordan has been the star. To be fair, Jordan only played one year of high school football, focusing mostly on basketball. So his rating was 100 percent about potential.

Lack of production is the only reason it wasn’t higher. That potential now appears to be real.

Jordan was the first of the three running backs to have his helmet stripe removed last week. Then, on Monday, Patrick Brown of GoVols247 noted that John Kelly singled Jordan out as the one guy

Before all of that, Jordan’s hard running, strength and speed were all generating excitement among the staff.

So now, with the opening game less than a week away and the Vols in desperate need of all the runners they can use against Georgia Tech, has Tim Jordan moved to the front of the backup line?

It seems like Fils-Aime has fallen behind. Coleman hasn’t generated much hype as a freshman.

We’re really just hearing about Chandler and Jordan as the guys to back up Kelly. Is it possible Jordan could supplant Chandler as the No. 2 back?

Time will tell, and we’ve also heard that all three freshman backs will play early. So it looks like Butch Jones and the coaches are going to rely on in-game performances before really setting a rotation.

Next: Top 10 players on 2017 Vols

But what is clear is that Jordan has been a pleasant surprise for the Tennessee football team so far. And he might add some immediate depth to the running back spot that many people would not have expected earlier in the summer.

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