Tennessee football: Two Vols shockingly high on 2023 mock draft boards

Five players were selected from Tennessee football in the 2022 NFL Draft, and there are already certain players bringing expectations for the 2023 draft. Hendon Hooker is named a top 50 prospect by Athlon and a top 20 quarterback on SI. Cedric Tillman is a top 15 receiver on SI.

However, while those two are the stars among everybody returning, they aren’t the ones who found themselves on any official early draft boards for 2023 yet. The Vols’ early picks next year could surprisingly come from the trenches and on defense.

Offensive lineman Darnell Wright and linebacker Jeremy Banks are the ones who have been named as projected picks in the first two rounds of the draft on separate NFL boards. Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports has Wright going in the first round with the 20th pick to the Indianapolis Colts. Here’s what he wrote about Wright.

"Wright is the oversized masher the Colts typically like on their offensive line."

Before Wright, Walter Football projected Jeremy Banks going 37th to the Detroit Lions last week, above anybody else from Rocky Top. Here’s what that site wrote about the franchise taking a shot on Tennessee football’s returning leading tackler so early.

"Detroit has struggled to defend the middle of the field for quite some time, so perhaps they’ll address linebacker early in the 2023 NFL Draft."

Both Wright and Banks had PFF grades below 60 last year, with Banks having the second lowest PFF grade of anybody on defense and third lowest on the team. It’s hard to agree with these sites when you see that. However, these mock drafts are about potential, and both have plenty of it.

When it comes to Banks, was the top producer for the Vols last year. His PFF grades were skewed by lack of containment from other players and the fact that he was learning a new system. This will be his first year playing the same position in the same system with a full offseason since he entered college.

Wright underwent a similar adjustment. He moved over to left tackle from right tackle and had to switch from Jim Chaney’s slow, pro-style offense to Josh Heupel’s up-tempo spread. His transition is just as tough as making the change from a 3-4 to a nickel-heavy 4-3 on defense.

If you look past those adjustments and project dramatic improvement based on stability, Wright and Banks could be as good of candidates as anybody to be the Vols’ first two draft picks next year. It’s a bold prediction, though, and involves a lot of guesswork.

This isn’t to say Hooker and Tillman aren’t projected to be drafted by any of these guys. These mock drafts are usually just one or two rounds, and none of them involved either of those players. If neither goes that high, though, then Tennessee football will have underachieved this year.