Tennessee football: Top 10 out of state Vols for 2019 season

Sticking with the secondary, Nigel Warrior is the staple of the defense and the glue guy entering his senior season. But Bryce Thompson is the future breakout star who has already established himself as a cornerback after being the best freshman Tennessee football had during the 2018 season. This is his year to explode.

Thompson finished the year with three interceptions and four pass deflections. He also had 32 tackles, four tackles for a loss, a sack and a forced fumble. These efforts earned him Freshman All-SEC and Freshman All-American honors.

As one of the top out of state players, he’ll start at cornerback alongside one of the top in-state players, who is also a rising sophomore, in Alontae Taylor. The two were also both four-star athletes in the 2018 recruiting class. They will complement Warrior and Buchanan, the two veterans in the secondary. So it’s just that other safety spot that’s still a bit of a question.

Also, Thompson continues the tradition of rare but elite talent from South Carolina. Remember Shaun Ellis? What about Darwin Walker and Dominique Stevenson? Even recently Cordarrelle Patterson is from there. And Stanley Morgan adds history to the pipeline. This is an area Jeremy Pruitt clearly wants to keep a connection to, and Thompson will help with that significantly.