Comeback player of the year: Jauan Jennings/Darrin Kirkland Jr.
It was hard for us to pick which player belonged here. Darrin Kirkland Jr. was more of a comeback player since he missed most of 2016 and all of 2017, while Jauan Jennings just missed nearly all of 2017. However, Jennings’s play this year may have been a bit more impressive.
As a result, we had to name both guys. Let’s start with Kirkland. His story was amazing. After missing the entire 2017 season and having to get back to health, he nearly left the program when Jeremy Pruitt took over in the offseason. But he decided to stay on.
Kirkland then followed that up with a strong start to the season. His photographic memory allowed him to pick up the 3-4 quickly, and he led the team in tackles in the season-opener while getting a pick-six the very next week. His play tailed off when the SEC season began, but he still finished with 51 tackles, five tackles for a loss and a sack. So he remained productive all year.
Then you’ve got Jennings. A fan favorite after his breakout 2016 campaign, Jennings went down in the 2017 season-opener against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. After Butch Jones’s firing, he was then dismissed from the team by an interim coach in Brady Hoke with one game left in 2017. Pruitt and Phillip Fulmer made him work to get back.
Those issues made it tough for him to bounce back early. But Jennings eventually thrived. He led the team in receiving touchdowns with three, and he had 30 catches for 438 yards. Jennings’s highlight play was his touchdown grab to give Tennessee football the lead over Auburn. But he showed he’s back, and like Kirkland, he deserves some praise for it.