Ranking the Vols defensive players who HAVE to stay healthy

Yesterday, we ranked the offensive players by which of them was most important to keep healthy. Today, we’ll do the same for defensive players. As we said yesterday, our hope is that no one gets hurt. It’s football, though, and injuries are part of the game, and some position groups are more vulnerable to injuries than others. So while we hope no one misses time, here’s a list of the defensive guys the team will miss the most if they suffer an injury.

6. Shaq Wiggins/Emmanuel Moseley/Rashaan Gaulden/Nigel Warrior

It’s not that these guys aren’t important; they are. And it’s not that they didn’t struggle at times last season; with the exception of Shaq Wiggins (who wasn’t here last year), they did. The relative security we have in the secondary is found (1) in numbers and talent, and (2) in the fact that we believe that the problems last year were due to coaching, which has hopefully been fixed in the offseason.

There are plenty of bodies — in addition to the four guys listed above and Todd Kelly Jr. (discussed below), the unit includes 4-stars Justin Martin, Evan Berry, Micah Abernathy, Marquill Osborne, and Maleik Gray. There are also six other 3-star players in the unit. We’re crossing our fingers that the coaching change in the secondary is going to filter its way through the entire secondary and improve their deep ball coverage across the board. So this unit should not only be improved, they should have the bodies and the talent to withstand normal injury attrition.

5. Jonathan Kongbo/Darrell Taylor

There is a lot of attention on these guys because they’re replacing Derek Barnett and Corey Vereen, but as we’ve said before, the guys behind the guys who are gone are talented. The defensive end position, though, is still not quite deep enough to consider it invulnerable to injury. If either Kongbo or Taylor miss time, Kyle Phillips at least has the resume to presumably step in and contribute without too much drop off, but behind those three, the team would have to look to a group of 3-star freshmen.

4. Todd Kelly Jr.

As I said a minute ago, the secondary is loaded with talent, bodies, and new purpose. Even so, Kelly is the leader back there, and if he goes missing the unit will feel it. The blossoming promise of Nigel Warrior, especially, seems to be yoked to Kelly’s leadership. He needs to stay healthy to keep the unit functioning as one.

3. Kahlil McKenzie/Kendal Vickers

We all have recurring nightmares of life without defensive tackles after last season, but really, the line should be strong and deep enough to withstand usual injury attrition. Assuming Shy Tuttle makes it back to full strength by the beginning of the season, the tackle spots should have at least five bodies available in Vickers, McKenzie, Tuttle, Alexis Johnson, and Quay Picou. And then there’s that group of freshmen that the team can tap into if needed. That said, we witnessed the importance of having plenty of big healthy bodies in the middle last year, so seeing any d-tackle go down will likely trigger flashbacks.

2. Cortez McDowell; and

1. Darrin Kirkland Jr.

The Tennessee linebacking corps really struggled at times last year, although that could have been just what linebackers look like when they’re backing up a defensive line without defensive tackles. Regardless, Kirkland is the leader of the defense, and the team needs him both from a leadership/alignment standpoint as well as a talent standpoint. McDowell, too, is important as the likely second guy on the unit.

There are a lot of experienced and talented guys available, starting with senior Colton Jumper, who not only filled in when the starters were out last year, but played really well. Also available are 4-star sophomores Daniel Bituli and Quart’e Sapp, 3-star Elliott Berry, and 4-star Dillon Bates. Hybrid linebacker/defensive end Austin Smith is also available, and a promising freshmen class is led by 4-star Will Ignont.

Still, if the linebacking unit didn’t appear to do very well last season, it could be because the team played only three games with its preferred starting lineup at the position: Appalachian State (Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Kirkland), Virginia Tech (same), and Nebraska (Kirkland and McDowell). The remaining games featured the following combinations at ‘backer: JRM/Jumper (Ohio, Florida) (and JRM actually missed most of Florida), McDowell/Jumper (Georgia, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt), Berry/Jumper (Alabama), Kirkland/Jumper (South Carolina), and Kirkland/Berry (Tennessee Tech, Kentucky, Missouri).

So, the only time Kirkland and McDowell started together was the bowl game against Nebraska. The good news is that the other guys got a lot of experience and can rightly be referred to as returning starters. But it’s extremely important that Kirkland and McDowell remain healthy this fall.