Teams that recruit like the Vols have are supposed to have more draft prospects, but there are reasons they don’t.
The full list of participants in the upcoming 2019 NFL Scouting Combine is out, and one thing that jumps off the list is that Tennessee doesn’t have a single player representing it in Indianapolis. Dozens of schools do have at least one participant, including:
The NFL sent out 338 invites in total.
And it’s especially odd when considering the recruiting classes that went to Knoxville in the last four years, particularly Butch Jones’ 2014-2016 groups. Tennessee’s ‘14 and ‘15 classes featured a whopping 16 blue-chips per class, a figure that led the SEC East.
The 2014 class finished No. 9 in the nation on the 247Sports Composite, and it included the likes of Jalen Hurd, Derek Barnett, and Josh Malone. 2015’s class ranked fourth nationally and included blue-chips like five-star OL Kahlil McKenzie and DL Kyle Phillips and four-star RB Alvin Kamara. The 2016 class, which had 10 blue-chips, is for the most part still enrolled in college, so we’ll have to wait a bit before seeing how their NFL futures pan out.
Still, every other school in their conference, including Vanderbilt, got at least one invitation.
Some of Tennessee not having a Combine invitee this year (and maybe not having a draft pick at all) is just about a timing coincidence.
Kamara, who spent a year in JUCO before going to Knoxville, went to the 2017 draft after two seasons. Barnett declared the same year and became a first-round pick and Eagles Super Bowl champion. McKenzie declared for the draft after his junior season and went in the sixth round in 2018. Hurd transferred to Baylor, one of dozens of players to transfer out during Butch Jones’ tenure. He’s at the Combine as a Baylor product.
All of that contributed to the Vols having a young team in 2018, Jeremy Pruitt’s first year. They were starting just four seniors on offense and defense by the end of it. They didn’t have a single player get early entry into the draft, after three players — McKenzie, DB Rashaan Gaulden, and RB John Kelly — got drafted the spring before.
Now, 2019’s setting up to potentially be like 2015-16, when the Vols went two years without having a single draft pick. That happened while Jones was rebuilding the program previous coach Derek Dooley left for him. Now Pruitt’s doing something similar with Jones’ old team.
The Vols finished 5-7 during his first year, but Tennessee’s 2019 class finished strong, at No. 12 nationally. It has 13 blue-chips, including five-stars Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright, two of the six five-star offensive tackles in the whole country. Pruitt also signed four-star linebacker Henry To’oto’o, who was an Alabama target, on Signing Day.
Tennessee’s been the butt of a lot of recent college football jokes, and a dry 2019 draft might bring more, but that might not last a lot longer.
