QB Hendon Hooker will undoubtedly be heading to New York as a finalist for the Heisman in the next few weeks. His rise to prominence is pretty amazing, as the 24 year old came to Tennessee from Va Tech after the 2020 COVID season and has since thrived in Josh Heupel's offense. Hooker prepped at Dudley High School not too far up the road in Greensboro, NC where he was teammates with short-lived USC WR Mike Wyman.

The Vols have a 2 headed snake in both Wright and Small to compliment Hooker's mobility as well. This duo has combined for 246 carries, 1135 yards and 17 scores. Wright hails from Southern High in Durham, NC while Small is a local product from Briarcrest Christian.

Been waiting for this one the whole season...Jalin Hyatt. He has exploded onto the scene this season with 15 TDS including 5 vs Alabama in their upset at Neyland. SC fans should be very familiar with Hyatt who prepped for Tom Knotts and Dutch Fork and went unoffered in the 2019 recruiting cycle under the previous staff. Bru Mccoy is another name college football fans may be familiar with as he was one of the top recruits in the 2019 class and originally signed with USC but never found his footing there due to some injuries. Cedric Tillman came into this season as the perceived best returning WR on the roster but has struggled with injuries this season and only appeared in 5 games. Tillman is back healthy after sitting out last week vs Mizzou and should be 100% against the Gamecocks.

Fant is an instate prospect who is in his final year with the Vols. Josh Heupel has found a number of ways for him to get involved in the action this year to compliment a loaded WR room and dynamic running game. Fant has posted 18 catches for 165 yards and 2 TDs this season.

Gerald Mincey transferred from Florida last offseason after the firing of Dan Mullen with 3 years of eligibility left. Carvin and Mays were both highly touted local products and provide a veteran presence along the offensive line. Mays whose from Knoxville is the brother of former UGA/UT OL Cade Mays who now plays Guard for the Carolina Panthers. Spraggins and Wright round up the right side of the O-Line—with Wright being the highest rated prospect across the line for the Vols. Wright was a perennial 5-Star Prospect and one of the top players in the 2019 cycle.

Bumphus and Thomas were both in-state products who provide this D-Line with another veteran presence. Da'Jon Terry signed with Kansas out of MS coming out of high school but transferred to Tennessee after the Jayhawks let go of then head coach Les Miles. Byron Young is a guy Gamecock fans may be familiar with as it was down to USC or Tenn for Young coming out of JUCO a few years back. Young grew up in Georgetown, SC and played his high school ball at Carvers Bay.

Mitchell transferred from Texas to Tenn last year after appearing in 21 games for the Longhorns across 2 seasons. He originally began his career at Butler Community College and was a product of New Jersey in high school. Jeremy Banks has an interesting story of how he turned into one of the more productive players for the Vols. Banks spent the first three months of his career as a running back rushing 41 times for 161 yards and 3 TDs, but didn’t get a carry for a few weeks. Then first year HC Jeremy Pruitt claims that Banks came upto him in the 4Q of the UGA game pleading his case to get back on the field so they put him at LB and the rest is history.

This Tennessee secondary has been very disruptive this offseason led by the play of Trevon Flowers who is turning in an All-SEC type season at Safety. Mccollough, although dealing with a pending felony assault case is expected to play and was someone the Gamecocks were high on coming out of Hillgrove. Kamal Hadden spent one year at Auburn before transferring to the Vols originally hailing from Independence CC whom was featured on Last Chance U.