Tennessee football: Eight Vols on Senior Bowl Watch List, but there should be more

Not every senior expected to make an impact for Tennessee football was going to make it onto the 2022 Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List. It’s actually pretty impressive that eight players from Rocky Top found their way onto the list, and it was a mix of seniors in their last or second to last year of eligibility.

Hendon Hooker, Cedric Tillman, Byron Young, Jeremy Banks, Darnell Wright, Trevon Flowers, Jerome Carvin and Princeton Fant all made the list. All eight players are guaranteed starters for the Vols this year, and some of them have All-American potential, so it makes sense.

However, Tennessee football has a few players who should feel disrespected by being left off the list. Three other starters who figure to be major contributors all had a case to be on it, and they should use this absence as a motivating factor for the year.

The first is Jacob Warren. He is basically a co-starter at tight end along with Fant. Although he has two years of eligibility left, he’s technically a senior, so like Tillman, Young and Wright, he had a chance to be on this list. Somehow, he was left off.

Why was Fant on and not Warren? Sure, Fant had 220 receiving yards last year while Warren had 179. However, Warren had 18 catches to Fant’s 16, and he had three touchdowns to Fant’s one. Looking at them together, it’s hard to prop up one without the other.

In fact, Warren, not Fant, was on the John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List. When that happened, we wrote about how Fant was being disrespected, but how could Warren be on that list over Fant while Fant is on the Senior Bowl Watch List over Warren.

Beyond Warren, though, two defensive backs had a case to be on there. Both Warren Burrell and Jaylen McCollough are returning starters, and while they each have two years of eligibility left technically, they have started for the better part of each of the past three years.

Burrell is getting a lot of flack for how he played in the Music City Bowl against the Purdue Boilermakers, and that is cause for concern. However, it was his first game as the No. 1 cornerback for Tennessee football, and these lists should be about projections. He was solid enough before then, so he deserves more love.

McCollough, meanwhile, has started at strong safety ever since the second half of his true freshman season in 2019. He led the team in interceptions last year with three while also breaking up five passes and forcing a fumble. How is he left off with that stat line?

Perhaps there is concern about McCollough’s low PFF regular season grade last year, as it was in the 50s, but Banks’ was lower, and Wright and Carvin had the same issue on the offensive line. What’s different about them? Simply put, the standard seems inconsistent.

It’s okay for Paxton Brooks and Chase McGrath to be left off, as kickers and punters were ignored as a unit. Ollie Lane, Aaron Beasley, Solon Page and LaTrell Bumphus are rotational players or even projected starters for the Vols this year, but none were full-time starters last year.

As a result, leaving those guys off the list is fair too. However, Tennessee football should have had 11 players on the watch list, and they only ended up with eight. Maybe having eight is still worthy of respect, but the Vols clearly should have had more.