Tennessee football’s 10 toughest players to replace for 2022
Alontae Taylor. 1. player. 15. Defensive back. NFL Draft. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis
Drafted by New Orleans Saints (Round 2, pick 49)
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It’s not hard to explain this one. Plug in the tape from Tennessee football’s Music City Bowl loss to the Purdue Boilermakers. Alontae Taylor sat out that game to prepare for the NFL Draft, and the Vols’ secondary was historically awful without him. That likely improved Taylor’s draft stock.
Taylor returned to full health last year after playing 2020 banged up. He didn’t miss a beat, finishing the season with six pass deflections, a forced fumble and two interceptions. Add in a tackle for a loss and 60 overall tackles, 41 of which were solo, and he proved he could do everything necessary to play cornerback at 6’0″ 199 pounds.
Of course, Taylor often shut down his side of the field, so quarterbacks very often avoided throwing his way. They were right to do that, as the Vols had issues on the other side all season, which showed when Taylor was out. The guy was easily UT’s best player.
Now, with Taylor gone, Tennessee football has to find a way to avoid what happened in the Music City Bowl happening all year. Warren Burrell and Kamal Hadden replaced him in that game, and they now have serious competition.
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Adding transfers Andre Turrentine from the Ohio State Buckeyes, Wesley Walker from the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Desmond Williams from junior college will all help. De’Shawn Rucker and Doneiko Slaughter are still on the team too. As a result, the depth is there. But depth and Taylor’s production are two separate things.