Tennessee football: Five key 2021 Vols who were three-stars or lower

5’11” 200 pounds; Atlanta, Ga.

This may be cheating a bit. When Trevon Flowers committed to Tennessee football’s 2017 recruiting class, it was well-documented that the only reason he wasn’t a four-star flirting with five-star status was because he played baseball in the spring and avoided a lot of the camps as a result that would have boosted his status.

Flowers still managed to see significant action as a true freshman and became a starter as a sophomore. Halfway through his sophomore campaign, the graduate of Tucker High School in Georgia’s DeKalb County suffered a season-ending broken leg injury on an interception.

Last year, Flowers struggled with consistency at different times, but he was dealing with the departure of Nigel Warrior, injuries at the cornerback spots in front of him and having to return from his own injury. Now, fully healthy, he should be settled into the free safety role, and it’s pretty clear he’ll look like a star along with strong safety Jaylen McCollough this year.

Even with those issues, Flowers was still one of UT’s highest rated players, as he had two tackles for a loss, three pass deflections, a forced fumble and 62 overall tackles, 36 of which were solo. He’s one of the Vols’ best players and best defenders.