Tennessee football Smokey points: Top five Vols in 17-13 Kentucky win

One clear fact about the Kentucky Wildcats going into the game was the fact that they would not throw an interception. After all, they can’t throw the ball, so they barely do, and they only do it on high-percentage plays. Nobody was going to believe Lynn Bowden Jr. would have enough chances to throw a pick.

Well, while only throwing seven passes, Nigel Warrior still managed to make sure one of them was just that. Continuing his strong senior season, Warrior intercepted a Bowden pass in the second quarter when Tennessee football was down 13-3. The play should have been run back for a touchdown, but half of Warrior’s foot was out of bounds on the run-back.

Although the Vols did not score on that drive, Warrior’s interception was still crucial. Bowden had just converted a 4th and 2 past midfield and almost in field goal range, and given how much UT had struggled to stop the run early, they were in danger of falling behind three scores.

That’s when Warrior made the play. He certainly stopped a UK scoring drive, which was huge and enough to put him on this list. On top of that, though, he was second on the team in solo tackles with five and had eight overall. So he was clearly one of the top defensive players on this list, and he is further proving how elite he now is.