By Vince Ferrara
Special Teams at Tennessee is today’s early summer position focus as I look at the Tennessee football team.
This is the 9th 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
Specialists
PK
25 Aaron Medley K SR 6’2 194 3*
– Brent Cimaglia PK FR 6’0 215 3*
43 Laszlo Toser K R-SO 5’8 181
30 Holden Foster PK R-SR 6’0 205
P
93 Trevor Daniel P R-SR 6’1 248 2*
36 Grayson Linde P R-FR 6’1 180
LS
46 Riley Lovingood P-LS R-SO 6’0 209 2*
52 Elijah Medford K-LS R-JR 5’9 203
64 Logan Punch LS R-FR 6’0 230
59 Jake Yelich LS R-FR 6’2 225
H
31 Parker Henry H R-JR 6’1 185
Position summary: Trevor Daniel is a Top 15 punter in the country. It’s the field goal kicking in close games and from distance that’s been a struggle. That’s the case again this season for this season until we see otherwise. Aaron Medley is 9-of-25 from 40+ yards in three seasons and 39 games as UT’s kicker. That includes 0-for-5 from 50+ yards. Butch Jones usually doesn’t even try them anymore. He’s not automatic from short range either. He should be better. We’ll see if incoming freshman scholarship kicker Brent Cimaglia can at least provide competition to Medley, something he honestly hasn’t had yet at Tennessee. UT is solid at holder and long snapper.
Returners
PR
9 Marquez Callaway SO 6’2 190 4*
10 Tyler Byrd SO 6’0 195 4*
25 Josh Smith R-SR 6’1 213 3*
8 Latrell Williams R-FR 5’11 175 3*
22 Micah Abernathy JR 6’0 195 4*
15 Jauan Jennings JR 6’3 205 4*
KR
29 Evan Berry SR 5’11 207 4*
10 Tyler Byrd SO 6’0 195 4*
9 Marquez Callaway SO 6’2 190 4*
22 Micah Abernathy JR 6’0 195 4*
3 Marquill Osborne SO 5’11 188 4*
9 Cheyenne Labruzza FR 5’11 190 3*
Position summary: Two dynamic punt returners from the last few seasons are gone in Cam Sutton and Alvin Kamara, so this will be an interesting competition to watch. The good news is Special Teams Coordinator Charlton Warren has some dynamic options to choose from. There are only 8 career punt returns from the group listed, Smith with 6 and Callaway with 2. Smith is a safe catcher of the ball. I think UT should go with a game-changer like Callaway or Byrd. One of the 2 punt returns by Callaway went for a touchdown as a freshman last season versus Tennessee Tech.
At kickoff returner, Evan Berry was 2nd team all-SEC last year (32.9 per, 0 TDs) following his 1st-team All-American sophomore season where he averaged 38.3 yards per return with 3 returns for touchdowns. His opportunities were cut-down by 1/3rd to only 14 returns in 2016. UT needs a 2nd weapon back there with Berry to make teams pay for kicking away from him or force teams to pick their poison. Early in the season UT had a “safe” guy back there with Berry, usually Abernathy, Osborne or Foreman. I would look at Callaway, Byrd (10 KRs at 26.3 yds per in 2016,) one of the other fast receivers and maybe an athletic young DB like Cheyenne Labruzza.
Hope you enjoyed my review of the University of Tennessee football quarterbacks 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.
Follow me on Twitter @VinceSports with the same handle on Instagram and VinceSports1 on Facebook.
