Tennessee football: Top 10 position battles in Vols 2019 fall camp

8. Free safety

Candidates:

Trevon Flowers; Theo Jackson; Jaylen McCullough

Another position with a favorite, free safety even became less of a blatant position battle with the news that Georgia Bulldogs transfer Deangelo Gibbs would redshirt. Tennessee football’s options are a bit more limited now.

Jeremy Pruitt has been high on Trevon Flowers since he recruited him back in 2018. Flowers was a three-star, but his rating was held down because he played baseball and couldn’t attend camps in the spring. However, as Derrick Ansley said Thursday, many of the fundamentals of fielding in baseball cross over to playing safety.

Flowers saw action early on last year, but then he missed the middle portion of the season due to a broken collarbone. However, when he came back, he began to show great promise for the future, and that has continued into the offseason.

The position is still full of unproven competitors, though, and that leaves it open for other guys. Theo Jackson figures to back up Nigel Warrior at strong safety and fill in if Warrior becomes the star guy. But he did fill in for Flowers last year and also showed promise, so don’t be surprised if he comes away with the starting job.

Then there’s Jaylen McCullough. The four-star commitment in this year’s recruiting class had two interceptions in the spring game and should have been named MVP. Since he’s a gamer, watch out for what he does as well. Simply put, the spot is open for somebody to take, even if there is a clear favorite right now.