Tennessee football: 10 Vols who should redshirt in 2020
LaTrell Bumphus. 2. player. 839. Pick Analysis. Defensive End. Senior. Scouting Report
We’re talking a lot about Tennessee football’s defensive tackles, but the defensive end position is also pretty loaded. Senior Matthew Butler is the clear-cut starter, but LaTrell Bumphus proved he could start and was a rotational player last year. This year, he has to split that rotation time with redshirt senior Ja’Quain Blakely and junior John Mincey.
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Bumphus is good enough to deserve a year to himself. The only thing that held him back was having to play a bunch of different positions. Settling in at defensive end is making him better over time. As a result, he should take a redshirt with a chance to have a year to himself as the first-stringer next year after another full season practicing in the system.
There are numerous incoming elite four-star defensive end, including Tyler Baron and Reginald Perry, but redshirting is not as urgent for them since there’s a chance that they both also compete for an edge rusher position in one of the available outside linebacker slots, which has some openings. Bumphus, meanwhile, is firmly a defensive end at 6’3″ 286 pounds.
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Blakely does not have this option as a redshirt senior. If Bumphus redshirts this year, he will definitely start ahead of Mincey in 2021, and Mincey himself could redshirt that year if he believes he’s worthy of a season to himself to start. Simply put, with six tackles for a loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery as a rotational guy, Bumphus deserves one year as a full-time starter.