Tennessee football 2019 recap: Top 10 Vols players of the season

Last year, Darrell Taylor turned into a sacks machine. However, the problem was that he loaded it all up in three games, at the Georgia Bulldogs and Vanderbilt Commodores and at home against the Kentucky Wildcats. This year, though, he spread out his production, and it was key to Tennessee football being so successful on defense down the stretch.

For the year, Taylor had 46 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, eight and a half sacks, six quarterback hurries, four pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Most importantly, though, his production impacted numerous games, and that’s what his main goal was when he came into this season after loading up his stats in 2018.

He had the key sack to preserve the Vols’ win in the Gator Bowl against the Indiana Hoosiers, as that knocked them further out of field goal range. A sack against the Kentucky Wildcats and two against the South Carolina Gamecocks and Mississippi State Bulldogs each were also critical to the Vols winning those games. Simply put, Taylor came through a lot.

Taylor’s senior campaign was worthy of praise, and he did what he needed to do. After making the switch to outside linebacker in Jeremy Pruitt’s 3-4 scheme, it’s hard to find a guy who benefitted more from the change. Doing what he did in 2019 made him one of the key players for Rocky Top, and he will be missed.