Tennessee football: 10 Vols who should redshirt for 2022
2. player. 839. Scouting Report. Junior. Dee Williams. Pick Analysis. Defensive back
Not standing out in the spring hurt Dee Williams given Tennessee football’s newfound cornerback depth. He should redshirt to wait for it to dissipate.
Sticking with cornerbacks, Dee Williams was a junior college transfer out of East Central Community College in Mississippi’s Newton County. Before that, he graduated from Mary Persons High School in Georgia’s Monroe County. He joined Tennessee football to fill those voids left by Alontae Taylor and Theo Jackson.
However, the 5’11” 190-pound cornerback out of Forsyth, Ga., did not stand out to fill that void as an early enrollee when he joined UT out of Decatur, Miss., this past spring. That’s a big deal because Kamal Hadden, Warren Burrell and Brandon Turnage were all out due to injury along with De’Shawn Rucker.
Meanwhile, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets transfer Wesley Walker and Ohio State Buckeyes transfer Andre Turrentine haven’t joined the team yet. All of them will get looks over Williams in August. If you go two-deep at the two cornerback spots and the one nickel spot, then Hadden, Burrell, Turnage, Walker, Turrentine and Doneiko Slaughter would fill them.
Cheyenne Labruzza is still in the rotation as well. Williams appears to be the odd man out this year. He’s got a bit more developing to do, so like Rucker, a redshirt would do him some good. Then he’d have three years of eligibility with a field certain to be cleared up by 2024 and possibly cleared up before then.