By Vince Ferrara
Linebackers at Tennessee is today’s early summer position focus as I look at the Tennessee football team.
This is the 7th in a series of nine straight days of separate posts by position. Check my blog page daily here at SportsRadioWNML.com for the other positions.
My current projected starters are in bold. I’ve listed the average star rating entering college from the four major recruiting websites (Rivals, 247Sports, Scout and ESPN.)
Vince’s View
Linebackers
MLB
34 Darrin Kirkland Jr. JR 6’1 230 4*
35 Daniel Bituli SO 6’3 235 4*
23 Will Ignont FR 6’2 230 4*
WLB
53 Colton Jumper SR 6’2 224 2*
20 Cortez McDowell SR 6’0 235 4*
41 Elliott Berry SR 5’11 222 3*
21 Shanon Reid FR 6’0 205 3*
38 Solon Page III FR 6’2 205 3*
SLB (when in 4-3)
11 Austin Smith R-SO 6’3 236 3*
14 Quart’e Sapp R-SO 6’2 220 4*
17 Dillon Bates R-JR 6’3 220 4*
Position summary: If healthy, and with a little bit of help, I think Darrin Kirkland Jr. is all-SEC good. Who his running mate will be in the 4-2-5 defense is up in the air. Colton Jumper held that position a good chunk of last year, and was up-and-down. I think he’s best as a reserve. Bob Shoop loves him though. Cortez McDowell was first-team in the spring with Jumper out. Everyone else is either a health question mark (Sapp, Smith, Berry) is also a middle linebacker like Kirkland (Bituli,) has yet to develop (Bates) or is a freshman (Reid, Page III, Ignont.) As you can see above, there’s star talent, but numerous guys have yet to fulfill their potential from the recruiting rankings.
If no one stands out with a great fall camp, I think Shoop and LBs coach Tommy Thigpen go back to their security blanket in Colton Jumper to line-up alongside Kirkland Jr.. I wonder if coordinator and position coach see that 2nd LB spot the same. Eventually, I believe Bituli will surface as the second-best linebacker, and they’ll be forced to play him alongside Kirkland as the best two guys. That may take a while for them to be convinced of that.
When they’re in their 4-3, I think Bituli finds his way on the field as well. Shanon Reid, despite being a freshman, looks to be a playmaker they’re looking for. We’ll see how much bigger he reports for fall camp.
Hope you enjoyed my review of the University of Tennessee football linebackers as we sit here in June. Go to my blog page for the rest of the position breakdowns. I have much more to say on UT football than this. Listen for me on Sports Radio WNML, call in and let’s talk some football. Thanks for reading and sharing.
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