Tennessee football: Ranking Vols 10 position units for 2019

2. Secondary

When it comes to the secondary, Tennessee football has the best combination of proven production and incredible potential. The Vols only lost Todd Kelly Jr. and Micah Abernathy from last year, and due to Kelly’s injury and Abernathy having to do too much, there were consistency issues with both of them.

This year, though, Nigel Warrior is a two-year starter and remains a rock at the safety position, so he has strong safety locked up. The addition of new, proven talent to lock up the cornerback positions, though, gives this unit a huge boost.

Alontae Taylor and Bryce Thompson, both four-star athletes, emerged as starters at cornerback last year. Taylor was a splash player with a partial punt block along with a defensive touchdown to go along with his defensive efforts.

Meanwhile, Thompson became a freshman All-American after coming away with three interceptions. He also proved himself to be a physical player with four tackles for a loss and a sack. Simply put, Thompson and Taylor starting at corner as sophomores while Warrior starts at safety as a senior already shows elite production returning for this team.

On top of that, though, the star position comes down to guys with plenty of reliable experience in Baylen Buchanan and Shawn Shamburger. Cheyenne Labruzza is also in the mix. So now we have four of five positions locked up with either elite, proven production or, at the very least, proven reliability.

That really leaves only one question, and it’s at the other safety spot. But Trevon Flowers, once a three-star, really emerged there last year. Theo Jackson and Maleik Gray both have experience starting there as well. So there’s a mix of elite potential and experience at the safety spot as well.

With the addition of defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley to coach the entire unit, replacing Charles Kelly and Terry Fair, this group should blossom. We didn’t even mention that behind all these guys, Pruitt brought in an elite recruiting class. That includes four-star Jaylen McCullough, who had two interceptions and should have been MVP of the spring game.

Four-stars Warren Burrell and Tyus Fields provide depth along with three-stars Aaron Beasley and Kenney Solomon. Don’t forget about Brandon Davis and Kenneth George Jr. as well. Simply put, it’s hard to get deeper than this unit, and it’s easily the best one on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.