MOBILE, Ala. – Four Tennessee Volunteers were named to the 2022 Reese’s Senior Bowl Watchlist, which was announced on Thursday afternoon.
Princeton Fant (tight end), Velus Jones Jr. (wide receiver/kick returner), Cade Mays (offensive lineman) and Alontae Taylor (defensive back) were among the players selected for the game’s preseason watchlist.
The Reese’s Senior Bowl is the nation’s most prestigious college all-star game, as it annually serves as the first step of the NFL Draft process. The Reese’s Senior Bowl had 106 total players drafted and 36 selected in the first three rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft.
This year’s game will be played on Feb. 5, 2022 and will be broadcast on the NFL Network. Practices will be televised live on ESPN and the NFL Network will host a daily recap show each evening in primetime.
Should they be selected to participate in the 2022 Reese’s Senior Bowl at season’s end, Tennessee’s four watch list selections would join an impressive group of former Vols to play in the game, including Trey Smith (2021), Josh Palmer (2021), Jauan Jennings (2020), Darrell Taylor (2020), Joshua Dobbs (2017) and Cameron Sutton (2017).
Fant is expected to have a significantly increased role in Tennessee’s new high-tempo offense this season. The athletic tight end has played in 20 games and made three starts during his career. Fant started his career as a running back and moved to tight end prior to the 2019 season. The Nashville native is coming off the best year of his career, seeing action in all 10 games while setting career highs in receptions (12), receiving yards (103) and touchdown catches (1).
A versatile receiver and dynamic return specialist, Jones Jr. enters his second season on Rocky Top and sixth at the collegiate level this fall. Jones made an immediate impact for the Vols last season, playing in all 10 games and starting the final six games of the year. His top performance came against Vanderbilt with a career-best seven catches, 125 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. In addition to his production at receiver, Jones led the SEC in kickoff return yards (398) and was second in the league in kickoff return average (22.11). The Saraland, Alabama, native notably ranks first among active Division I FBS career leaders with 2,345 career kickoff return yards.
Mays, a native of Knoxville, played in and started seven games during his first season with the Vols in 2021, seeing action on 478 offensive snaps. Six of Mays’ starts came at right guard with the other start coming at right tackle. Mays began his career at Georgia and has played in 32 career games with 25 starts.
Taylor enters his fourth season at UT, having played in 33 games with 19 starts. He has totaled 102 tackles for his career, including 29 a season ago to go along with five passes defended. As a junior, Taylor saw action on 439 snaps with 234 of those coming in coverage. He did not allow a touchdown pass according to Pro Football Focus.
To learn more about the Reese’s Senior Bowl and see the complete watchlist, click HERE.
-UT Athletics
