Tennessee football’s top five juniors for 2020

Hometown: Manchester, Tenn.

As a freshman, Alontae Taylor emerged alongside Bryce Thompson at cornerback. The two appeared to have a bright future together with Tennessee football. However, last year, Taylor seemed to take a step back. He had a couple of major lapses in coverage early on without Thompson, and he found himself splitting time with Kenneth George Jr. down the stretch.

Despite that bit of a snag, Taylor still has a bright future and should remain an elite talent for the Vols. Even if he’s splitting time with George, he is an elite playmaker. The guy still was a leader last year and played in every game. He finished the season with 33 tackles, one interception and three pass breakups, proving his value in the secondary.

We should also note that while he officially started six games, four of them were the final four games of the season. That shows that Taylor still managed to improve over the course of the season despite appearing to take a step back early on. With another year playing under Jeremy Pruitt and Derrick Ansley, continuity should help him a lot.

The in-state graduate of Coffee County Central is one of numerous defensive backs who committed to UT as an athlete in 2018, but he has proven himself. He’ll be tested this year without Nigel Warrior backing him up, but he should be ready for that test. Our faith in him on that front is why we have him on this list.