Tennessee football: 5 toughest Vols to replace for 2019

AUBURN, AL - OCTOBER 13: Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer celebrates with defensive lineman Kyle Phillips #5 of the Tennessee Volunteers after defeating the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) /

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As we said, Tennessee football needs immediate help at safety. That’s a huge need, and Micah Abernathy and Nigel Warrior were the only guys to start the year last season at the position. But Todd Kelly Jr. is still a bigger loss than Abernathy.

Kelly fought his way back from a season-ending injury in 2017 and tumultuous offseason in 2018. But the legacy player became a critical piece for the Vols down the stretch of the season and managed to appear in eight games.

He was more of a coverage guy than Abernathy, so he didn’t rack up the stats all the time. But he was critical in making sure the Vols didn’t blow their homecoming game, which was an ugly win over the Charlotte 49ers.

On top of that, Kelly did what he could to help the Vols beat the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road. He consistently worked as hard as he could to be productive. But on the field is not why he will be missed.

Off the field, Kelly was an amazing leader. He brought out the best in many of his teammates, and despite all the injuries and breaks that went against him, he remained in amazing spirits. As a result, it’ll be hard to replace a guy like him to lift the morale of the team, but Jeremy Pruitt is going to need that from one of his players to build on 2018.

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