Nobody benefitted from Jeremy Pruitt’s transition to a 3-4 defense than Darrell Taylor. After laboring for two years as an undersized defensive end, he moved back to outside linebacker and was able to become Tennessee football’s biggest playmaker on defense over the past two years. His three-sack games in 2018 won’t be forgotten.
However, in 2019, Taylor became more of a consistent player, spreading his production out over more games. He finished the year with eight and a half sacks and 10 tackles for a loss, the second straight year he had at least eight sacks and double-digit tackles for a loss.
With him gone, though, the Vols have to find somebody who can live up to that standard, and that will be tough. Jordan Allen switching to tight end actually makes it a big tougher. Kivon Bennett and Deandre Johnson are the two main options, and both of them showed promise last year with two and a half sacks and two sacks respectively as the alternated to be Taylor’s complement.
Neither of them, though, has proven that they can do it full time. Now, there are some other guys who could do it, including a couple of inside linebackers if they need to move outside, like Quavaris Crouch. Younger guys like Roman Harrison and a couple of new recruits could make a push for it as well. But there is not clear leader to replace Taylor yet.