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March 9, 2016
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When it comes to top-notch defensive players, the Southeastern Conference is loaded with them, and it seems like the Tennessee football team must battle against the majority of them in 2016.
Ranking the top five is an extremely difficult chore with all the talent in the SEC on that side of the ball, and you know any time a Missouri defensive lineman or Georgia defender failed to make the list that it’s a strong year in the league.
Not even anybody on Virginia Tech legendary defensive coordinator Bud Foster’s unit made this list, and you know the Hokies always have stellar defensive playmakers.
The Volunteers are just glad they don’t have to go up against Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Cameron Sutton and Derek Barnett. At least they’re on the right side of the ball.
But that won’t keep there from being studs the Vols must deal with each week. Rival Alabama is absolutely loaded with defensive studs, even after a season where the Crimson Tide placed several of their national championship defense in the NFL. A couple of those guys made the list.
Florida has its annual recipient of “Player Who Is Most Likely to Give Tennessee Fits.” And that isn’t even counting the top-ranked player on this list, who may just be the top overall pro prospect in the nation.
Yes, UT has a slew of stars for offensive coordinator Mike DeBord to game-plan against this year. Let’s rank the top five defenders the Vols will face, taking into consideration their collegiate production, pro prospects and overall leadership makeup, and big-game swagger.
It’s a shame that one of the best defensive players in the SEC over the past few seasons is mired on a defense that has been flat-out putrid.
Yet, South Carolina linebacker Skai Moore isn’t just good because he’s surrounded by inferior players. The 6’2″, 218-pound senior from Cooper City, Florida, may be a safety trapped on the second level, but don’t say that to his face.
He certainly hits like a linebacker—and he gets opportunities to hit people all the time.
Last year, he registered 111 stops and was third in the league with an average of 9.2 tackles per game, according to his South Carolina bio. Moore has the ability to take over a game, and he is a flat-out gamer who will thrive now that defensive-minded Will Muschamp is the head coach in Columbia.
Though the Gamecocks have endured some difficult times over the past two years, Moore has been a beacon of positive play. In last year’s season-opening win over North Carolina that looked more shocking as the teams sped in opposite directions as the season matured, he was dynamic.
He picked off two passes in the end zone and also finished with 11 tackles on a huge national stage.
Though Moore would have been taken in this past NFL draft, he stayed to play for Muschamp and coordinator Travaris Robinson. Rotoworld.com NFL draft analyst Josh Norris told the State‘s Josh Kendall of Moore’s pro prospect.
“I’m a big fan,” Norris said. “As long as he stays healthy, I don’t see how (coming back) can hurt him. Hopefully, South Carolina is better next year and when teams are better you can get a more favorable look at someone. It’s tough to be an outstanding player in a bad situation.”
Moore doesn’t get the headlines a lot of SEC defenders do because of how bad the Gamecocks are defensively, but they should improve this year, and he’ll be the leader.
With the potential he has to develop into a superstar under Muschamp, that’s why he gets the nod over the likes of Mizzou defensive end Charles Harris, Georgia defensive end Lorenzo Carter, Alabama safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, Vanderbilt linebacker Zach Cunningham and others.
Everybody hails Jonathan Allen as Alabama’s new, vaunted defensive leader after he elected to return for his senior season to lead the Tide into the Jeremy Pruitt era on defense.
But Tim Williams may wind up being the better pro prospect—if you can believe that.
The 6’4″, 237-pound outside linebacker is a physical specimen who is an absolute beast rushing the passer off the edge in Bama’s rugged 3-4 scheme. In a group of an unbelievable front seven in Tuscaloosa last year that led the Tide to another championship, Williams stood out.
He finished the season second on the team with 10.5 sacks and added 12.5 tackles for a loss. His numbers would have been higher, too, but at times, it was like a race to the quarterback for UA defenders, and Williams simply didn’t always win.
Though he only had one tackle against the Vols a year ago, Williams spent a lot of time in the backfield.
The former consensus 4-star prospect chose Alabama over LSU despite living in Baton Rouge, and his career has been a strong one on the Capstone. After coming back for his senior season, he’ll develop even more under head coach Nick Saban.
As much emphasis is put on rushing the passer these days for NFL squads in what has become a pass-first league, a player with Williams’ size and speed will be coveted on the next level. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper thinks he could be a top-five pick, according to the Montgomery Advertiser‘s Duane Rankin.
Williams is the kind of player already drawing plenty of attention around college football, such as from USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin, who must prepare for him in that opening game.
“He’s phenomenal,” Martin told The Opening Kickoff on Mobile, Alabama’s WNSP 105.5 FM (via AL.com’s Mark Heim). “Obviously, you have to have a plan for him. In our league, there are guys like that, but not exactly like him. He’s pretty special. It’s a great opportunity for our guys in the first game. That’s about all you’re going to get today.”
Martin may refrain from spouting bulletin-board material, but Williams won’t need any extra motivation against the Vols after a mediocre game a season ago. UT better know where he is at all times.
Perhaps Public Enemy No. 1 on Tennessee’s schedule this year is the hated Florida Gators, and there’s a new reptilian villain to lead the way for head coach Jim McElwain’s bunch as they march into Knoxville with an 11-game winning streak over UT.
That would be rising junior cornerback Jalen Tabor, who has a big, brash ego like those Gators of the 1990s-2000s, but he also has the game that can back it up.
After ESPN’s Football Power Index projected Tennessee as heavy favorites to win the SEC East, Tabor unleashed a series of tweets ripping the Vols.
“‘They’ picked UT to win the east the last 3 years,” Tabor tweeted, followed by “I feel sorry for ‘they.'” And then, “We’ll make it 12 years in a row this year.”
Though some of those tweets have since been deleted, 247Sports’ Connor Tapp captured them in a story. Tabor also spouted off about Peyton Manning.
Vols running back Jalen Hurd didn’t take too kindly to that, responding, “6’0″, 190. Jst talkin for attention. Not gonna end well buddy.” He followed up those words with a prayer emoticon.
Ah yes, the old days of Tennessee-Florida banter is back. Maybe the Vols can finally hold up their end of the bargain.
If they do, it’ll be because they keep the ball away from Tabor, who is every bit the star he was projected to be coming out of high school in Washington, D.C. The past few years, Vernon Hargreaves III got all the headlines, but Tabor was at least as good.
He’ll be the next big UF defensive back taken in the draft’s first round, likely after this season. Last year, he finished with an astonishing 18 passes defended and took two of his interceptions back to the house.
He’s arguably the best returning cover corner in all of college football. So, it would be wise for Joshua Dobbs to throw the majority of his passes on Sept. 24 in the other direction.
As good as Williams is, Jonathan Allen still holds the edge, simply because he’s already proved just how much of a monster he can be on a loaded defensive line.
What’s he going to do for an encore?
The answer may just be that he winds up as the top defensive lineman taken in next year’s NFL draft, and with the pedigree of Crimson Tide defensive linemen, who’s to say he won’t be the top overall player taken? While it depends on the needs for those teams at the top of the draft, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Allen is that good.
At 6’3″, 294 pounds, the Leesburg, Virginia, native can come off the edge as he does as a 3-4 defensive end in Alabama’s scheme. On the next level, he also has the ability to shift inside and use his immense athleticism on the interior.
With so many star defensive linemen on UA’s roster last year, Allen arguably topped new NFL players A’Shawn Robinson and Jarran Reed. He led the team with 12.5 sacks and 14.5 tackles for a loss, and he decided to come back and terrorize SEC offenses for another season.
How good will he be with extra attention now that Robinson and Reed are gone?
“I have Allen in the first round,” ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said prior to Allen announcing he was returning for his senior year, per B/R’s Christopher Walsh. “When you’re that big and you have the pass-rush ability he has…Allen was an underrated player all through his career. It was always A’Shawn Robinson, and it was Jarran Reed, and then there’s Allen showing up big in key moments just about every game.”
If Allen continues to do that, he’ll be at the top of next year’s draft. He’ll also remain at the top of Tennessee’s board on players it’ll need to try to avoid when Alabama invades Knoxville for the Third Saturday in October.
By now, it’s cliched to heap praise on Myles Garrett.
Much like LSU running back Leonard Fournette and Georgia running back Nick Chubb, when one of those guys tops a list, readers just roll their eyes and lament that the writer is taking the easy way out.
Well, there’s a reason why every single publication, NFL draft analyst and college football national pundit speaks so highly of the Texas A&M rising junior defensive end: He’s a freak-show, once-in-a-generation pass-rusher who has the potential to be one of those transcendent defensive ends in the NFL.
Garrett is a can’t-miss.
Does he take plays off? Not often, and certainly not to the level of a Jadeveon Clowney during his final season at South Carolina. When he’s on (which is much of the time), he’s nearly unblockable.
GridironNow.com’s Cavender Neutze discussed the intangibles that make Garrett special when he is at his best.
“His ability to get to the quarterback is his main strength, but Garrett also has a knack for making the big play,” Neutze wrote. “Whether it’s blocking a punt that was returned for a touchdown versus Auburn or tipping an interception to himself against Ole Miss, Garrett can turn a game on its head in an instant.”
ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay had Garrett going third overall to the New York Giants in his latest ’17 mock draft. WalterFootball.com’s Charlie Campbell has Garrett as the top overall pick to Cleveland.
The first team that can pass on a quarterback or needs a defensive end is going to take Garrett. The upside is just too high for the 6’5″, 260-pound defensive end who runs like he’s at least an outside linebacker.
As a former top prospect, Garrett was expected to shine, and he hasn’t disappointed. He was a force on the edge with 11.5 sacks and 53 tackles, including 14 for a loss as a true freshman, which broke Clowney‘s freshman record.
In ’15, Garrett was even better, finishing with 59 tackles, 12.5 sacks, 19.5 tackles for a loss, five forced fumbles, two passes defended and an interception.
The Vols are likely to be breaking in a new offensive tackle this year with redshirt freshman Drew Richmond expected to be the starter on the left side. If he gets matched up on Garrett, the latter could give him a few “Welcome to the SEC” moments.
Of all the defensive players the Vols must prepare for, nobody carries Garrett’s clout.
All quotes and information gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information gathered from 247Sports unless otherwise noted. All stats gathered at CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted.
Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.
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