Tennessee football: Five surprises from Vols’ first depth chart of 2022

4. Christian Charles or Kamal Hadden to start opposite Warren Burrell at cornerback

All of this is shocking. Given how he struggled as Tennessee football’s No. 1 cornerback last year in place of Alontae Taylor in the Music City Bowl against the Purdue Boilermakers, Warren Burrell being the one cornerback to lock up a starting job wasn’t guaranteed. He appears to have that top cornerback role as well.

To be fair, Burrell did start all last season in the No. 2 slot, so he should be ready. Anyway, Kamal Hadden potentially starting opposite him is to be expected. What’s not, though, is the fact that Christian Charles is his biggest competition at cornerback, which nobody saw coming.

Remember, at STAR, Tamarion McDonald won the position with Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets transfer Wesley Walker backing him up. We all saw that happening, but all the signs were that Brandon Turnage was the most sure bet to see the field. Moving from nickel to cornerback was the most likely option. He’s nowhere on the depth chart, though.

Turnage’s absence is as shocking as Charles competing with Hadden for that other starting role. You could also say Dee Williams being on the second team ahead of Turnage is shocking. In general, this cornerback rotation was a surprise, but we never knew how it would end up.