Tennessee football: 10 Vols who should redshirt in 2019

Will Ignont has gained solid experience his first two years with Tennessee football, appearing in six games as a freshman and then all 12 games last year, starting in two of them. He finished the 2018 season with 47 tackles and two tackles for a loss.

The 6’1″ 229-pound linebacker has some talent. But after spring ball, there’s not much room for him to have a chance to start unless he takes a redshirt. The Vols already have Daniel Bituli and Darrin Kirkland Jr. as seniors.Behind them, though, are Solon Page III and Shanon Reid, both of whom made the first-team defense in the spring game over Ignont.

With Reid as a junior and Page as a redshirt sophomore, Ignont will never be able to move ahead of them. Add in the potential of redshirt freshman JJ Peterson and all-world newcomer Quavaris Crouch, and Ignont could fall behind fast. So the best thing for Ignont to do would be to redshirt this year.

If Ignont does that, then he could compete to be the third guy in the rotation in 2020 as a junior, just behind Reid and Page and alongside Crouch and Peterson. Then there would be room for him to see significant action as a senior in 2021. But if he does nothing, he’ll likely see very limited action over the next two years, and he’s too talented to miss a chance at starting.