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Tennessee football: 10 Vols likeliest to win postseason awards in 2020

By Caleb Calhoun

JACKSONVILLE, FL - JANUARY 02: Henry To'o To'o #11 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates during the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against the Indiana Hoosiers at TIAA Bank Field on January 2, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. Tennessee defeated Indiana 23-22. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FL - JANUARY 02: Henry To'o To'o #11 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates during the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against the Indiana Hoosiers at TIAA Bank Field on January 2, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. Tennessee defeated Indiana 23-22. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images /

These Tennessee football Volunteers are most likely to earn recognition at the end of the season.

Last year, Tennessee football had five players earn All-SEC and multiple freshmen earn national recognition. With a collection of elite veterans and young players developing rapidly, that was bound to happen over the course of the year.

The Vols enter their third season under Jeremy Pruitt with fewer stars but more experience and depth. There aren’t many positions where they can’t use by-committee starters, and Pruitt has shown a willingness to to that in the past.

Because of such willingness, more rotational players will be at each position, making it potentially less likely that Tennessee football see numerous players earn postseason awards. However, there are still plenty who will have chances to showcase their abilities. Also, with multiple conferences not playing due to the pandemic, there’s less competition for such awards as well.

In this post, we’re going to rank the Vols most likely to earn postseason awards. Factors include the skill level of each player and how much they will be used during the season. Usage is determined by depth at the position and the schemes that the coaches run. We won’t be taking into account which players are on preseason watch lists, although they may overlap.

Unlike last year, there don’t appear to be any freshmen who are in line to start at specific positions, so none have made this list. If some do stand out, it will be a surprise. As a result, we had to go with more proven talent.

Some of these players did make the list, though, based on how effective we are projecting them to be and how much we expect them to be utilized. All of them have to have a certain level of talent that sets them apart from everybody else.

Postseason recognition includes specific awards at the end of the year, All-American and All-SEC honors and freshman honors. However, as we said, no freshmen made the list this time. So let’s work with the other guys on the team. These are Tennessee football’s 10 players most likely to be honored at the end of the 2020 season.

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