Tennessee football’s NFL Draft success: Who gets the most credit? Jeremy Pruitt or Josh Heupel?

1. The players

There are times when coaching is the only factor in a player being drafted. It always has an impact. The degree to which it has the impact is what NFL scouts have to figure out. In Tennessee football’s case, though, the players clearly had the greater impact.

Look, all five of these guys had to play for at least two different head coaches in their careers. Four of the five played for at least three. In terms of coordinators, three of them actually had to play for four different coordinators as well, and a fourth had to play for three different coordinators.

With that type of transition and constantly learning new systems, all five of these players getting drafted had more to do with themselves than anything else. We saw potential from Theo Jackson throughout as he was consistently a utility defensive back but never got the chance to start full-time. Alontae Taylor was always elite when healthy.

Matthew Butler was a team player his whole time in college, playing every position on the line. Cade Mays was the same on his side of the ball. Yes, coaching helped their versatility on those fronts, but they still had to actually play those roles competently.

Finally, Velus Jones Jr. has straight-line speed that you can’t coach. Simply put, all five of these players are responsible for Tennessee football’s NFL Draft success. They made themselves into stars, and while coaching helped, they were the most important part of that.