Tennessee football all-decade team: Vols 2010s two-deep roster

Running Back

1. Rajion Neal

2010-2013

Only three Tennessee football running backs rushed for over 1,000 yards in a season this decade. Tauren Poole was one of them. After Poole, though, Rajion Neal was the one who did it. And despite numerous issues facing the Vols during his tenure on Rocky Top, he was never the problem, as he always produced, and it didn’t matter the offense.

After producing for Jim Chaney for three years, Neal thrived behind a solid offensive line his senior year in Butch Jones’s spread offense. He averaged over five yards a carry and had 1,124 yards and 12 touchdowns that season. For his career, he had 2,163 yards and 24 total touchdowns. As a pure running back, he was the most complete package of anybody this decade, so he’s the starter.

2. Jalen Hurd

2014-2016

You could make a case for Jalen Hurd starting over Rajion Neal. He’s sixth all time on the UT rushing list and was more productive than Neal overall. In fact, he had the most yards of any Vol running back this decade, rushing for 1,285 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2015. For his career on Rocky Top, he had 2,638 yards and 26 total touchdowns.

Now, yes, Hurd transferred midway through his junior year to the Baylor Bears. That hurts his stock, and it’s why he’s a backup on here. But when you’re measuring productivity, it’s really hard to ignore what he did for Butch Jones and his staff for three years. And it’s worth mentioning, with Jones’s firing, his issues may have been more about Jones in hindsight anyway.