Tennessee football: Top 10 Vols with 2021 NFL Draft potential
Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Defensive Back. Bryce Thompson. Junior. 3. player. 839
Like Trey Smith, Bryce Thompson is arguably the top prospect in terms of production. However, he has his own issues, and they don’t deal with injury. A freshman All-American in 2018, Thompson was suspended early in 2019 due to a legal issue, and the incident is going to be serious enough to concern NFL scouts. This isn’t your average marijuana arrest.
Still, when he’s on the field, Thompson may be Tennessee football’s best playmaker on defense. He matched his three-interception total of 2018 with three interceptions in one game in 2019. As a shutdown corner, he makes things much easier for Alontae Taylor, who showed last year he’s not yet capable of playing on an island.
That’s why Thompson is the corner so high on this list. At 5’11” 181 pounds, he seems light, but he has proven he can be really physical, as he has six tackles for a loss, two sacks and a forced fumble in his first two years. He is all over the field and a perfect fit for Jeremy Pruitt’s and Derrick Ansley’s 3-4 schemes.
This year, provided he actually plays the whole season, Thompson’s development and his talent should make him an emerging superstar. As a result, it’s highly likely he becomes a top prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft, and at this point, there’s probably a greater than 50 percent chance he leaves early to enter it.