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Tennessee football: Vols safety Nigel Warrior on Bednarik preseason watch list

By Caleb Calhoun

LEXINGTON, KY - OCTOBER 28: Daniel Bituli #35 and Nigel Warrior #18 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrate a recovered fumble against the Kentucky Wildcats at Commonwealth Stadium on October 28, 2017 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KY - OCTOBER 28: Daniel Bituli #35 and Nigel Warrior #18 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrate a recovered fumble against the Kentucky Wildcats at Commonwealth Stadium on October 28, 2017 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee football safety Nigel Warrior is getting some early love. The Volunteers defensive back is on the watch list for the 2018 Chuck Bednarik award.

Despite coming off a 4-8 season, undergoing a coaching change, and a new defensive system that makes the secondary look very vulnerable, Tennessee football’s first player on a preseason watch list is a defensive back. And his appearance, ironically, comes as no surprise to anybody.

Junior safety Nigel Warrior is on the preseason watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, according to a release from the Maxwell Football Club. Given annually to the best defensive player in the NCAA, the award has been around since 1995. However, no Vols player has won it yet.

If he can pick up Jeremy Pruitt’s defensive system, though, Warrior is a great candidate to do it. After all, the 3-4 is difficult, but once players pick it up, elite defensive backs can thrive in it.

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Just look at last year. One of Pruitt’s defensive backs as defensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide, Minkah Fitzpatrick, was the winner of the award. The year before, the winner was Jonathan Allen of the Tide.

So Pruitt has been the defensive coordinator for the last two Bednarik Award winners. If anybody could keep that streak alive this year, it would be Warrior.

The son of legendary Tennessee football defensive back Dale Carter, Warrior is carving a legacy in his own right. He was one of the bright spots of the team last year, and the coaches desperately need him this year to drag the secondary along. With that, clearly, is coming high expectations.

Of course, there are three other Alabama players on the list this year whom Pruitt coached. They include Raekwon Davis, Anfernee Jennings and Mack Wilson. He also coached Georgia Bulldogs cornerback Deandre Baker in 2015, and Baker is also on the list.

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So Pruitt’s fingerprints are all over the Bednarik Award preseason watch list this year. But he’s got a much bigger uphill battle in trying to develop stars with his first head coaching job than he did at any of his previous stops as defensive coordinator.

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