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Tennessee football: Top 10 players Vol have to face in 2020

By Caleb Calhoun

ORLANDO, FL - SEPTEMBER 1: Wide Receiver DeVonta Smith #6 of the Alabama Crimson Tide makes a catch during the game against the Louisville Cardinals during the Camping World Kickoff at Camping World Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. #1 ranked Alabama defeated Louisville 51 to 14. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL - SEPTEMBER 1: Wide Receiver DeVonta Smith #6 of the Alabama Crimson Tide makes a catch during the game against the Louisville Cardinals during the Camping World Kickoff at Camping World Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. #1 ranked Alabama defeated Louisville 51 to 14. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images
Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images /

These are the top 10 players the Tennessee football Volunteers will have to face this year.

Although Tennessee football appears to have gotten a lot better this year, at least on paper, the Vols still have to worry about other elite programs they are facing and what they have done. After all, a 10-game SEC-only schedule makes things way more brutal for them.

Anyway, while UT has an All-American candidate in Trey Smith and numerous All-SEC candidates, the Vols are playing teams with multiple All-American candidates. That’s what happens when you have five opponents ranked in the top 12 nationally, three unanimously in the top 10 and two unanimously in the top five.

Obviously, there are lots of extremely talented players who are behind those teams being so highly-ranked. This year, Tennessee football has to deal with those players and even players on lesser teams who could be dangerous.

In this post, we’re going to rank the best players UT has to go up against this year. Yes, we’ll rely on preseason expectations, but this is also our own take on which players deserve the most recognition. It was actually hard for us to leave some guys out.

What made things so difficult was the fact that one team in particular makes up about half the list of best players Rocky Top is going to face. Pretty much everybody following this knows who that team is, and it’s a big reason they have dominated Big Orange Country the past decade-plus.

However, there are other teams that have multiple players on here, demonstrating just how brutal the top of the schedule could be for Jeremy Pruitt’s third team in Knoxville. He’s certainly got his work cut out for him.

Who is behind making that slate brutal, though? Which SEC stars will Pruitt and his staff have to account for? Let’s go ahead and break al of that down here. These are the 10 best players Tennessee football will have to face this year.

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