Tennessee has four on the coaches All-SEC Freshman team

Tennessee was one of the youngest teams in the Southeastern Conference this season and the Vols’ youth was represented as four freshmen – Braylon Staley, Ty Redmond, David Sanders, Jr. and Edwin Spillman – made on the coaches All-SEC Freshman team.

Tennessee and Alabama tied for the most players on the coaches’ voted team. 

Staley, who was named the SEC’s Freshman of the Year on Wednesday, leads the Vols with 64 receptions for 806 yards and six touchdown. Staley is averaging 12.6 yards a reception. In his first year as a Vol, Staley played in four games, recording three catches for 21 yards as he battled a hamstring injury.

“I think route running for one, he is much better. He understands angles,” receivers coach Kelsey Pope said. “He does a great job of sitting in windows over the middle of the field. He does a great job of fluctuating speed, knowing when to play at top speeds and being able to manipulate defenders that way. I say the biggest leap that he’s taken is just physicality.

Ty Redmond was thrown into the fire 19 snaps into the season opener when Rickey Gibson was lost for the year with a bicep injury. Redmond, who went through some typical first year pains as teams picked on him, played his best down the stretch of the season and finished the regular season leading the Vols in interceptions with three and pass break ups with 10. 

“I think being here, the amount of reps he’s gotten in this league, as good as it is,” defensive backs coach Willie Martinez said of Redmond. “He’s going against some really good players and he’s making some plays. It’s happening in the games, but obviously we have really good players on offense here, so he has a good feel for whether it’s a tall receiver, whether it’s a quick guy. He understands how to study, each guy’s skill set that’s important where he was just relying on his, his talent level and not really getting to, you know, study some of the guys that he’s going against and he’s doing. Where he’s really, really is grown s trying to, you figure out who is he going against, and then executing.”

David Sanders, Jr. was expected to start from day one. A shoulder stinger on Wednesday of the opening week against Syracuse forced Sanders to the sideline, delaying his arrival in the starting line up. For Sanders, the journey started when he got to campus last January with the priority being physical growth. Sanders put on nearly 40 pounds in the off-season to help him be able to hold up in the SEC. 

“Where he was to where he is now, unreal and credit to him,” offensive line coach Glen Elarbee said earlier this year. “And then just technique wise, it’s so rewarding when you see him change something on a pass set or change something in the run game, technique wise, and it works. And the light clicks and then you get to go and move on to the next thing. 

“And he just consistently, every day, (is) ticking off something and just keeps building and climbing. (He has) done a great job.”

Edwin Spillman would have played a lot in 2024 had it not been for a wrist injury that forced him to redshirt. In his second year in the program, Spillman ended the regular season second in tackles with 74. He also had an interception, two pass break-up’s, 2.5 sacks and 3.5 TFL’s. 

“Edwin is one of those guys to where as a young player who doesn’t have a lot of time under his belt here in this program, we’re continuing to work on the leadership elements of him being able to be a little more vocal. But from an action standpoint, he is exactly what you want on the football field because he will knock you out and we love it,” linebackers coach William Inge said. 

Earlier this week, Tennessee had seven players named to the All-SEC teams.