Tennessee football’s top 10 winners from spring practice 2022

There was no Orange and White game for Tennessee football to close out spring practice this year due to the renovations at Neyland Stadium. As a result, figuring out which Vols stood out during those 15 practices is a lot trickier than it has been in the past, however, there are colonels of truth we can gather in other ways.

Using the stats from the one scrimmage open to the media and reading into the comments made by the coaches throughout the press conferences, it becomes pretty clear who they liked and didn’t like at times. That will be the basis for our list of the top spring performers.

Up front, it’s worth noting that nobody stood out enough at quarterback behind Hendon Hooker to make the list in the race for a second-teamer, and while Trevon Flowers was one of the top performers, his starting position is locked in. The people on this list actually gained something. Here are Tennessee football’s top 10 spring practice 2022 winners.

6’3″ 192 pounds

Obviously, the departure of JaVonta Payton leaves a pretty big opening for a No. 2 wideout opposite Cedric Tillman. Lots of players are in competition for that, but among the freshmen wideouts who committed to UT, all of whom were early enrollees, Chas Nimrod out of Arkansas was the only one specifically mentioned by the coaches.

The graduate of Bentonville High School in Benton County, Ark., was named specifically as the freshman who stands out by offensive coordinator Alex Golesh in his press conference during the first week of spring ball. Everybody else named is a returning player.

Now, he didn’t make any catches or play with the first or second team in the one scrimmage open to the public, but a statement like that is enough of an endorsement to put him on the list. There were no such endorsements for Kaleb Webb or Cameron Miller. Nimrod was the only Tennessee football freshman who could play wideout to get one.