Tennessee football: Darrell Taylor should have greatest season ever for Vols OLB

Tennessee football’s 2019 season is made for edge rusher Darrell Taylor. He should have the greatest year ever for a Volunteers outside linebacker.

With the switch to outside linebacker in Jeremy Pruitt’s 3-4 scheme last year, Darrell Taylor took a bit of time to get going. Through Tennessee football’s first four games, he had no sacks and one tackle for a loss.

But then he had his breakout game against the Georgia Bulldogs, registering three sacks and forcing two fumbles. Those fumbles weren’t recovered, and the Dawgs won that day, but Taylor, always built as a speedy edge rusher, finally showed just how elite he could be in that system.

After Jonathan Kongbo suffered a season-ending injury against the Auburn Tigers, Taylor really developed and came into his own. finished the final four games on Rocky Top with 19 tackles, seven sacks and eight tackles for a loss.

Following up on that Georgia game, he had an incredible four sacks against the Kentucky Wildcats. Then he finished up the season with three sacks against the Vanderbilt Commodores. So he showed elite flashes throughout.

This year, with more experience under his belt at the position and the feature edge rusher heading into the season, expectations are even higher for him. Everybody see his potential given where he is lining up, and it’s why Phil Steele projects him as a preseason All-American. Everything has just fallen in place for Taylor to burst onto the scene.

And there is no real way to get around this: Taylor is in position to have the greatest season ever for a Vols outside linebacker. Note, we specifically mean outside linebacker. So Leonard Little, who moved to defensive end in 1997, and Al Wilson, Kevin Burnett and Jerod Mayo, who all moved to middle linebacker their final year on Rocky Top, don’t count.

However, at outside linebacker, Taylor should explode as a playmaker. The Vols, throughout their history, have only played in the attacking 3-4 scheme that Pruitt runs twice before. Once, in 2012, under Sal Sunseri, and then in 2018. John Chavis’s attacking scheme was almost always out of the 4-3. This is their first time playing in this system after being familiar with hit.

It’s designed for elite edge rushers to wreak havoc, and Taylor already has shown flashes of doing that. If he can put together the performances he had against Georgia, Kentucky and Vanderbilt throughout the year in 2019, his performance should be historically great.

Taylor’s abilities combined with Pruitt’s scheme offers a rare opportunity in which his performance is measured solely by the sexy stats: sacks, tackles for a loss and forced fumbles. And make no mistake, his sack totals should be huge.

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Don’t be surprised if he threatens Reggie White’s record for most single-season sacks in Tennessee football history, which is 15. Outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme is better positioned to rack up lots of sacks, and Taylor will be playing the entire year as the main edge rusher, finally familiar with the system.

So he could have en explosive breakout year. The only thing that might hold him back is if Tennessee football, after losing all three starters on the defensive line, doesn’t get adequate production from there. But Pruitt appears to have found solid talent there in Emmit Gooden and Matthew Butler, so while the production won’t be the same, it should still be adequate.

If that happens, look for Taylor to have a record-setting year. Nobody is better positioned on defense to be a stat machine for Tennessee football, so not having a historic year will be disappointing on his end.