All-SEC
This is a projection from us. Jaylen McCullough stepped in last year at safety as a true freshman against the Mississippi State Bulldogs after Trevon Flowers suffered a season-ending injury, breaking his leg on an interception in that game. Immediately, McCullough became a star, as he helped Tennessee football turn from a 1-4 team to finishing 8-5.
UT’s six-game winning streak to close out the season just happened to begin two games later, right after McCullough became the full-time starter. For his part, he had 33 tackles, three tackles for a loss, a sack and two breakups, and he appeared in all 13 games on the year. PFF College gave him All-Freshman team Honorable Mention honors.
Taking that into account, the sophomore clearly has potential to be a breakout superstar with a full season to himself. At 6’0″ 205 pounds, he showed what he could do as a four-star early enrollee out of Hillgrove High School in Georgia during the spring of 2019, coming away with two interceptions and making a case for MVP honors in Rocky Top’s Orange and White game.
Nigel Warrior’s departure puts more pressure on McCullough. With Flowers trying to get healthy, only Theo Jackson, a veteran can help him be a certain force of stability this year. If Jackson can do his part there, McCullough could become an All-SEC safety easily. Since all the tools are in place and the advanced metrics favor him, he makes the list.