10. New Orleans, La.
Tennessee football rarely gets a player from New Orleans. After all, the LSU Tigers are an hour away and have a direct pipeline into the city. Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron have done a superb job even further walling it off.
However, there are three major exceptions. One of the major stars of the 1951 national championship team came from there, Hank Lauricella. Raynoch Thompson, who was a key player on the 1998 national championship team, was also from there.
Then you have this guy named Peyton Manning, maybe the greatest player in school history, coming from there. So when the Vols do get guys from New Orleans, they turn out to be transcendent legends.
Could that be the case this year? The only scholarship player from within the New Orleans city limits on this team is redshirt freshman Brandon Davis, a two-star defensive back who committed to the Vols’ 2018 recruiting class.
But Terrell Bailey helped it to get on the list. He made for two scholarship players from the metro area, even if he does come from Harvey, La., which is right across the river. The Louisiana talent brings lots to the table for Jeremy Pruitt.
Once a four-star defensive back, Bailey figures to be in the rotation for the Vols this year, either backing up Alontae Taylor or Bryce Thompson. By 2020, the guy could be starting. So his presence just barely gets NOLA on here. However, the impact from the city is not that deep yet.