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Tennessee football: Top 10 breakout Vols from 2021 season

By Caleb Calhoun

Sep 2, 2021; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Jabari Small (2) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Bowling Green Falcons during the first quarter at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 2, 2021; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Jabari Small (2) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Bowling Green Falcons during the first quarter at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 27, 2021; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers linebacker Roman Harrison (30) at the line of scrimmage during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bryan Lynn-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 27, 2021; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers linebacker Roman Harrison (30) at the line of scrimmage during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bryan Lynn-USA TODAY Sports /

Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Linebacker. player. 839. Junior. Roman Harrison. 7

6’2″ 240 pounds

At the beginning of the year, all the hype was behind Tyler Baron as the breakout edge rusher. Baron was productive, but he had only 30 tackles compared to 21 last year and five fewer solo tackles, largely due to Byron Young emerging. Bryson Eason and Morven Joseph also generated hype, but they combined for four tackles this year, and Joseph is in the transfer portal.

The one guy who truly had a breakout year as an edge rusher for Tennessee football is Roman Harrison. A four-star commitment in the 2019 class, Harrison combined for 15 total tackles his first two years on the job, and only eight of those were solo.

This year, Harrison finished with 33 total tackles, 18 of which were solo. Now, his tackles for a loss and sacks didn’t increase that much, as he had three and a half and one respectively, but his role changed with more action up on the line under Tim Banks, where as in Jeremy Pruitt’s 3-4 scheme, he was purely a guy meant to generate tackles for a loss.

Harrison provides a significant amount of depth for the Vols at the edge rusher position, and even with Young and Baron on the roster, he managed to make a name for himself. As a result, don’t be surprised if he sees more action even next year, as his leap this year was huge.

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