A winning week for the Vols
It's safe to say it's been a good week for head coach Butch Jones. After getting his man in Bob Shoop to be his defensive coordinator. Jones has landed two big commitments for the 2016 season in Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Cam Sutton.
Tuesday when Shoop was introduced, Reeves-Maybin told me that he knew he was staying if Shoop was hired. The two have had a long relationship going back to Reeves-Maybin's recruitment.
Sutton had said all year that he wouldn't leave unless he was a first round selection. While one mock draft had Sutton a first round pick, the NFL Advisory Board advised Sutton to return to school. Many draft “experts” had Sutton as a third round selection.
While the NFL told the two defenders they weren't ready advising the two defenders to stay in school, their return to the Vols means Tennessee is ready.
Ready to make a run a conference title.
In Sutton, Shoop gets a shut down type corner who has 104 career tackles, 6 interceptions and 26 pass break ups in 38 games played. With Reeves-Maybin, Shoop gets the heart and soul of his defense.
The Clarksville native has 206 tackles the last two seasons. In 2015, Reeves-Maybin had 6 sacks, 14 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles, 4 pass break up's as he never came off the field. Reeves-Maybin has 37 games of experience in the orange and white.
“Obviously we very excited about he news of the his decision,” Jones said of Reeves-Maybin. “He has really grown into the leader of this football team and we are looking forward to helping him try to reach his goals.”
With both Sutton and Reeves-Maybin, it's not just Shoop's defense that gets a huge lift, it's also special teams where Reeves-Maybin has been a staple and Sutton has simply been dynamic. In 2015, Sutton averaged 18.7 yards a punt return and had two returns for touchdowns. His return for a score in 2014 against Vanderbilt helped lift the Vols to the Taxslayer Bowl.
The return of Sutton and Reeves-Maybin on the field is obviously extremely significant for Team 120. Tennessee doesn't exactly have a groomed outside linebacker waiting in the wings and replacing Sutton's play and how teams play against him would not be easy.
But the return of the duo does more than just help Team 120. It also helps the future of Tennessee football and it helps Shoop on the recruiting front. The fact that they are returning with praise for Shoop offers instant credibility for the new defensive coordinator.
It also offers more validity for Jones and his program. Validity that Tennessee is not just a program on the rise, but it's also a program that is a destination program not just for coaches but for players. A program that student athletes are happy to be a part of and a program that guys aren't running from the first opportunity they have.
As the SEC East sees changes at Missouri, Georgia, and South Carolina, Tennessee in the middle of January with coaches hitting the road again on the recruiting trail because of Sutton and Reeves-Maybin's decision again shows the most difficult thing to capture and hold in college football.
It shows stability.
