Tennessee football: 10 players Vols can’t afford to lose for 2019
As crucial as Jarrett Guarantano is, defensive line still remains the place where Tennessee football most desperately needs its top players to stay healthy. Joining Darel Middleton and Aubrey Solomon, whose status is in limbo, is Savion Williams. He’s the third transfer Jeremy Pruitt went for in the offseason.
Williams is the only one of those three who has a four-star rating or better and is good to go this year. The 6’4″ 304-pound prospect has experience and now has a ton of pressure to be able to perform with Emmit Gooden being out for the season. It’s almost a certainty that he has already locked up a starting spot.
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As a result, Pruitt is going to need him not just to stay healthy but to step up immediately. It’s a tall task, but he doesn’t have much else of a choice. Williams is the one guy with experience, hype, and a proven waiver to play at this point. Who else is UT going to turn to?
That all is more than enough for us to put him near the top of this list despite having never played a snap for Rocky Top. If Williams gets hurt, UT will all of a sudden be having to go deeper and deeper into the roster for defensive linemen. And that can be dangerous given what the state of the unit is already.