The Tennessee football Volunteers cornerback made history with number zero.
It looks like Bryce Thompson will be the first Tennessee football player to wear No. 0. The rising junior defensive back wore No. 20 each of the past two years, and assuming there is a season this year, he’s about to add to the hype behind him.
Back in April, the NCAA approved this jersey number for the first time due to the popularity of single-digit numbers. It became inevitable that somebody on Rocky Top would then begin that tradition of wearing such a number.
Thompson, a Freshman All-American in 2018 who racked up three interceptions each of his first two seasons with Tennessee football, made sense as the choice since he’s likely to be one of the best players on the team this year. He revealed his jersey number Sunday on Twitter.
— Zip (@thommybry) August 9, 2020
As of right now, there are no retired single-digit jersey numbers on Rocky Top. Thompson is not likely to have his jersey number retired anyway, but he still started a trend. Now he has even more pressure to succeed with his new jersey.
Ironically, Thompson’s counterpart at cornerback, rising junior Alontae Taylor, has also changed numbers. Taylor, who started alongside Thompson each of the past two years, wore No. 6 as a freshman in 2018 and switched to No. 2 in 2019.
So together, Taylor and Thompson as starters have the digits now that made up Thompson’s original jersey number, 2 and 0. According to a June report in the Knoxville new Sentinel, freshman wide receiver Malachi Wideman will take No. 1. Marquez Callaway wore that number for the Vols last year.
Uniform numbers can have significant places in history, and Tennessee football certainly has a few players who have managed to put numbers in history. Starting a new tradition with 0 is one exciting aspect of the season. Thompson, as the first player to wear it, now has to live up to certain expectations surrounding him.