Tennessee football will once again rely on lots of homegrown talent to win in 2019. Here are the top 10 Volunteers from within the state.
Even when they were at their height of recruiting national under Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee football always relied on a heavy dose of in-state talent at its core to keep winning. Heck, over two-thirds of the Vols’ 1998 national championship roster was from within the state.
That team’s best player, Al Wilson, was the biggest star from that crew. But key contributors like Chad Clifton, Cedric Wilson, Travis Stephens, Jermaine Copeland, and of course, Jeff Hall, were all from within the state.
So the message is clear. If you want to win on Rocky Top, you have to go more national than the Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida Gators, or Georgia Bulldogs. Heck, Georgia alone has to be a second home state.
But Tennessee football still needs to build around talent within the state. And that includes talent from Memphis to Jackson to Nashville to Murfreesboro to Chattanooga to Knoxville to Johnson City and everywhere in between.
Heading into 2019, Jeremy Pruitt has placed a bigger emphasis on national talent than previous coaches, but the heart of the Vols is still from inside the state. They are loaded with talent from within the state of Tennessee and will need many of those players to have a successful season.
In this post, we’re going to rank the top 10 Vols from within the state heading into 2019. These rankings are somewhat of a projection of how good players may be, but they are also based on what we heard from spring ball and saw in the spring game along with what the players did last year.
Pruitt’s specific use for a player will also be a major factor. Right now, the Vols have eight guaranteed or extremely likely starters from within the state, and it would be nine if not for one player’s health being in limbo.
However, with that limbo factor and the number still not equaling 10, this list had to involve a bit of speculation. But we were able to break it down well. So let’s take a look at who we’re talking about. These are the 10 most important Tennessee football players in 2019 who actually come from the state of Tennessee.