Senior Bowl 2023 Rosters: Which Volunteers are playing in the Senior Bowl?

The Reese’s Senior Bowl is right around the corner and will take place on Saturday, February 4th, at 2:30 pm ET

The Senior Bowl is a pre-draft combine/all-star game for incoming graduates that want to make a name for themselves for the NFL. This is an invite-only game, and only a select few get picked for this.

Furthermore, according to the Reese’s Senior Bowl website:

"“The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility.”"

For Tennessee football, 3 familiar faces will be in the lineup for the Senior Bowl

QB1 Hendon Hooker

Starting quarterback Hendon Hooker has accepted his invitation to the Reese’s Senior Bowl after having one of the best seasons as a Vol in school history. Hooker tragically got injured towards the end of the season, but before this, he threw for over 3000 yards, 27 touchdowns, and only 2 interceptions. This is a truly remarkable stat line and Vols fans can’t wait to see him out there on Saturday.

DL Byron Young

Byron Young was one of the best players for the Volunteers’ defense this past season and tallied up over 30 tackles with 22 of them being solo tackles. Byron Young has quite a fascinating story as well, he transferred to Tennessee after starting his career at Georgia Military College, which is an NJCAA member located in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Byron Young had this to say about his time at GMC:

"“I always wanted to get back into football, but I didn’t really know where to get started. We [Young and his brother] saw this flyer on the internet for tryouts. It was another opportunity and it made me feel very happy … I was just excited to start that journey.”"

Things changed for Young when he landed at Tennessee:

"“Here [at Tennessee], you get a lot more resources and more help. But in JUCO, it’s harder because you are more on your own. I was working while playing JUCO. I had to pay for my apartment and school.”"

Byron Young now gets to live his childhood dream and play in the Senior Bowl for a chance to get into the NFL Draft.

OL Darnell Wright

Darnell is a 6’6 340 pound monster of an offensive lineman and will bully just about any defensive player around. He is going to get a great opportunity to show it this weekend in the Senior bowl. Wright was a 2022 All-SEC First Team (Associated Press, Coaches, USA TODAY) and 2022 Rotary Lombardi Award Semifinalist for Tennessee football this past season.