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And that makes five. Five Tennessee Volunteers now taken in the 2017 NFL Draft, as the Cincinnati Bengals just selected receiver Josh Malone with the 128th pick. Malone had 50 catches for 972 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.
For his career, Malone played in every game that past three seasons and averaged 2.7 catches and 41.2 yards per game. He put up a total of 1,608 yards and 14 touchdowns in three seasons on Rocky Top. Congrats to him. And his grandma.
VFL linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin is the fourth Tennessee Volunteer to be taken in this year’s NFL Draft. He was chosen by the Detroit Lions with the 124th pick overall.
Maybin (known to some of us around here simply as “Mayhem”) was poised to dominate his senior season last fall, but was able to play in only four games before a shoulder injury stole the remainder of his Tennessee career. Despite that, Maybin still had an incredibly productive career at Tennessee, posting a stat sheet that looks like it just finished Thanksgiving dinner: 240 tackles, 8 sacks for 56 yards, 27 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 4 pass breakups, 4 quarterback hurries, an interception and a certain bird in a certain holiday fruit tree.
More than that, the guy was a fantastic leader. Congratulations to our dear Mayhem. Best of luck.
Add Cam Sutton to the list of Vols taken in the first three rounds of this year’s NFL Draft. Sutton was the third Tennessee player taken when he was chosen by the Pittsburgh Steelers as the 94th overall pick.
It became obvious with this pick that as the draft progresses, the information that the analysts have on the guys gets increasingly suspect. It’s not that they had Sutton wrong, it’s just that one of the first things out of their mouths was a question about durability because he played in only seven games last year. Missing half of the most recent season sounds like a big deal until you dig a little deeper and discover that Sutton started every single game in his entire Tennessee career up until his first injury last season.
Sutton leaves Tennessee as the school’s all-time leader in passes defended with 30, and he had seven interceptions over the course of his career despite teams generally trying to avoid his side of the field. He also returned 45 punts, three of them for touchdowns. The guy will be missed.
VFL Alvin Kamara was the second Tennessee player to hear his name called at the 2017 NFL Draft. Kamara was just selected by New Orleans with the draft’s 67th overall pick. As we said earlier, he and Barnett were the first Tennessee players to be selected in the draft since Ja’Wuan James, Zach Fulton, and Daniel McCullers were taken back in 2014.
Kamara spent two terrific years at Tennessee, mostly as the “second” back in a system that featured Jalen Hurd until he quit the team midseason last fall. Kamara, who had always been versatile and utilized in a variety of productive ways by the offensive playcallers, picked up the slack after Hurd departed and finished the season with 596 rushing yards and 392 receiving yards. All told, he tallied nearly 1,300 yards rushing, nearly 700 yards receiving, and 24 touchdowns, including one on a punt return. The guy was a key cog in the machine even as second fiddle when he probably should have been the starter.
We are so happy for Kamara. We’ll miss him in orange, but we’ll be happy to watch him have great success on Sundays.
VFL Derek Barnett was the first Tennessee player to hear his name called at the 2017 NFL Draft. In front of a raucous home crowd, Barnett was just selected by the Philadelphia Eagles with the draft’s 14th overall pick. He’s the first Tennessee player to be selected in the draft since Ja’Wuan James, Zach Fulton, and Daniel McCullers were taken back in 2014. It’s been an embarrassing stretch in the desert, but it’s over now.
Barnett left Rocky Top early for the NFL on the heels of a three-year Tennessee career during which he set a new all-time career sack record with 33, overtaking Reggie White’s previous mark of 32. Barnett needed only three years to do it, getting 10 as a true freshman in 2014, another 10 the following year, and 13 this past season. He’s also had 52 tackles for loss in his career.
Barnett had more sacks (13) this year than Myles Garrett (8.5), who was this year’s first overall pick, and he also had more in his career (33) than Garrett had in his (32.5). I don’t point that out to discredit Garrett at all. He’s fantastic. It’s just that Barnett is just as good. The only reason Barnett went later in the draft than Garrett is because of stupid Combine and Pro-Day scores that measure things that defensive linemen don’t have to do. As I said earlier, it ain’t 40 yards to the quarterback, y’all. And he’s not straight up in the air, either.
Barnett and head coach Butch Jones were at the draft to enjoy the moment.
Congrats to Barnett and his family. He’s made us Vols fans proud for three years now, and we’re happy to see him reap his rewards.
Tennessee continued its recent hot streak on the recruiting trail Thursday with verbal pledges from a pair of cornerbacks.
First, 6’0″, 175-pound cornerback Adonis Otey of Blackman High School in Murfreesboro decided to get the recruiting process over with in a hurry, committing to the Vols over a slew of early offers. The 2019 class member gives UT its fourth pledge from two classes down the road already. All of them are rated 4-star prospects on either 247Sports or Rivals, and all four are from the state of Tennessee.
Though Otey isn’t rated yet by 247, he’s an early 4-star on Rivals and had early offers from Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Louisville and others. He joins Independence High School receivers TJ Sheffield and Kendrell Scurry as well as Chattanooga (Notre Dame HS) athlete Cameron Wynn as ’19 pledges.
Then, the Vols received some more good news later in the day when Olive Branch, Mississippi, cornerback Jaylon Reed decided to end the recruiting process. He’s a member of the 2018 class and continues UT’s recent surge following Saturday’s Orange & White Game. In the past week, the Vols have commitments from running back Jashaun Corbin, receiver Jatavious Harris and quarterback Michael Penix.
Also, fifth-year graduate transfer cornerback Shaq Wiggins gave the Vols some massive news when he elected to play his final year in Knoxville after transferring from Louisville. He’s buddies with departed running back Alvin Kamara who helped recruit him at this past weekend’s spring game. Wiggins also considered South Carolina and Mississippi State, and he should provide UT some much-needed help at a position of need in 2017. He has a great chance to step right in and start.
Though the Vols have a lot of talent on the back end of the defense, this spring showed the secondary again as one of the team’s biggest worries. With Cameron Sutton headed to the NFL, the Vols need a rotation to step up among cornerbacks Justin Martin, Emmanuel Moseley, Marquill Osborne, D.J. Henderson, Baylen Buchanan and others. UT also has a trio of freshmen coming in with Shawn Shamburger, Cheyenne Labruzza and Terrell Bailey ready to step onto campus.
On top of the commits UT has enjoyed this past week, the Vols also received intriguing news that top quarterback target Adrian Martinez decommitted from California following his weekend visit to Knoxville. Though Martinez hasn’t pledged to UT yet, the Vols have to be seen as a frontrunner for his services.
As for Reed, the 6’1″, 170-pound defensive back had offers from Georgia, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Purdue, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and others. He’s blessed with good length and athleticism, and he appears to be a nice prospect. The Vols and new defensive backs coach Charlton Warren identified him as a top target and were excited for him to end the process.
It’s been a big week on the recruiting trail for the Vols, and it may not be finished with quarterbacks coach Mike Canales expected to visit Martinez in his California home this weekend.
The Tennessee Vols just got great news in the form of former Louisville cornerback Shaq Wiggins announcing that he is coming to Tennessee as a graduate transfer and will be available to play immediately this fall. Wiggins earned an All-ACC honorable mention in 2015, a season in which he started all 13 games and returned two interceptions for 52 yards. He also had 13 passes defended and 11 pass breakups.
Last season, Wiggins played in only eight games and started one due to injuries, and he sat out the 2014 season after transferring to Louisville from Georgia when former Bulldogs defensive coordinator Todd Grantham left for the Cardinals. Wiggins started eight games as a freshman in Athens.
A former Under Armour All-American in high school, Wiggins looks to mix things up in the secondary for the Vols this fall camp. He’ll compete with Emmanuel Moseley, Justin Martin, and the other cornerbacks on the roster for a starting spot.
I have made my decision and I will continue to finish my career at the University of Tennessee !!!!! 🍊
— Shaquille Wiggins (@ShaqWiggins6) April 26, 2017
Extremely Thankful to Receive an offer from The Tennessee Vols!!🔶#GoVols pic.twitter.com/xKarI2YUNb
— Hendi™ (@king_hendi) April 24, 2017
I’ve received my 15th Offer from The University of Tennessee! #SEC #VolNation 🍊 pic.twitter.com/XOinht53lD
— Tʀᴇᴊᴀɴ ʙʀɪᴅɢᴇs⁸ (@trejanbridges) April 24, 2017
Blessed to receive my sixth offer from The University of Tennessee!!!!🔶⚪️ pic.twitter.com/5Yb4x3mh1B
— DeWayne Carter (@Dewaynecarter0) April 25, 2017
Is anyone surprised that the NCAA has just made former Tennessee Vols quarterback Josh Dobbs, he of the aerospace engineering degree, the poster boy for student-athletes?
Anyone?
Okay, then.
Tennessee met one of its biggest needs in the 2018 recruiting class with Friday’s pledge of Florida running back Jashaun Corbin. It wound up just the beginning to an Orange & White Game weekend.
A lot of rain couldn’t dampen how hot the Volunteers were on the recruiting trail as UT added three more commitments the past two days, and there are even a few more who could pop soon. Though there were no huge-name pledges out of the bunch, all three are vital to the Vols’ class and have high upsides.
Corbin remains the highlight, but the other three pledges keep UT moving along in this year’s class and getting off to a great start in the 2019 haul, too. The most high-profile of the pledges came from 3-star quarterback Michael Penix Jr. of Tampa Bay Tech. The 6’3″, 182-pound southpaw signal-caller has liked the Vols for a long time, but he committed on Saturday, choosing UT over offers from Oregon, Arizona, Rutgers, South Florida, Florida Atlantic and others.
Though Penix doesn’t have the greatest offer sheet in the world, the Vols identified him early in the process and wanted him for a long time. In a year where they want to take two signal-callers, it was important to get one early, and Penix looks like he has the ability and the upside to come in and compete. He immediately left Knoxville and participated in a camp in Washington D.C., where 247Sports writer Steve Wiltfong said he was a “steady” performer during Elite 11 drills.
Tennessee also hosted top QB target Adrian Martinez, who told GoVols247’s Ryan Callahan he had a “really good visit” this weekend and had a decision to make between UT and the Cal Bears, where he’s been committed for the past five months. The Vols would love for Martinez to be their second QB commit in this class to go along with Penix.
The biggest surprise pledge of the weekend came from fast, dynamic receiver Jatavious Harris of Milledgeville, Georgia, who had South Carolina as his leader prior to his weekend visit to Knoxville. The 6’2″, 182-pound pass-catcher vibed well with UT receivers coach Kevin Beard and pledged on Sunday, giving Tennessee its second commitment from a receiver in this class. Harris joins Manchester, Tennessee, receiver Alontae Taylor, and the two already have quite a rapport on social media. Harris has great size and is quick in the open field, as his HUDL video shows.
Harris had offers from the Gamecocks, Florida, Louisville, Kentucky, Miami, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State and others.
He and Taylor have been chirping all weekend about other possible commitments, and some names that are being thrown around as possibilities are Alabama linebacker Jacquez Jones and maybe a 2019 commit or two.
One player in next year’s class who made his verbal pledge is Chattanooga athlete Cameron Wynn, who may well be the fastest player in the state, regardless of class. He plays both offense and defense for Notre Dame High School, and though he played quarterback last year, the Vols are recruiting him to play receiver. He joins soft commitments Kendrell Scurry and TJ Sheffield as UT pledges in that class. All are in-state receivers. All are also early 4-star recruits on 247Sports.
Tennessee has made a habit in recent years of loading up on prospects early and then over-recruiting them if necessary. None of these players on the surface look like candidates for that; they’re all quality players who a lot of teams wanted.
