Seven Tennessee players make Athlon's Preseason All-SEC teams
Tennessee football landed seven players on Athlon’s Preseason All-SEC teams. Wide receiver Bru McCoy was named second team All-SEC, linebacker Aaron Beasley and punt returner Dee Williams were on the third team and wide receiver Squirrel White, running back Jaylen Wright, defensive lineman Tyler Baron center Cooper Mays were fourth teamers.
The Vols were shut out in first-team selections. Georgia led the league with 15 selections on Athlon’s four All-SEC teams. Alabama had 12 and LSU, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Missouri all had 10 or more.
Athlon noted its preseason all-conference selections are “based on how players will perform in 2023. Career statistics and awards matter in the evaluation, but choosing players for the 2023 all-conference team is largely based on predicting and projecting the best for the upcoming year. Also, team strength does not play a role in selections. These are the best individual players at each position in the league for ’23.”
Bru McCoy, Squirrel White combined for 775 receiving yards, six touchdowns in 2022
McCoy caught 52 passes for 667 yards and four touchdowns with the Vols last season, after transferring from USC. He should play a much bigger role in 2023 after the NFL departures of Cedric Tillman and Jalin Hyatt.
The same goes for White, who had 30 receptions for 481 yards and two touchdowns during his freshman season.
White caught nine passes for 108 yards and a touchdown from Joe Milton III in Tennessee’s 31-14 win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl and McCoy had four catches for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Beasley led the Tennessee defense against Clemson with 12 tackles, including four tackles for loss, two sacks and a pass deflected. For the season Beasley had 76 tackles, with career-highs in tackles for loss (13.0) and sacks (3.0). He’s up to 169 tackles, 21.0 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks over the last four years with the Vols.
Jaylen Wright led Tennessee with 875 rushing yards, 10 rushing TDs in 2022
Williams, the defensive back and return specialist who transferred to Tennessee from East Central Community College in Mississippi, ended the season with 15 punt returns for 281 yards, averaging 18.7 yards per return and 31.2 return yards per game.
After missing the first four games last season due to injury, Williams’ first touch was a punt return against LSU last October at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, taking it back 58 yards before being brought down.
He took a punt back 73 yards for a touchdown in Tennessee’s 56-0 win in the regular-season finale at Vanderbilt in November and took one back 34 yards against Kentucky in October, setting his team up for a 13-yard touchdown on the next play.
Wright had a breakout season with 875 yards rushing on 146 attempts in 13 games, scoring 10 touchdowns and averaging 6.0 yards per carry. Baron had 22 tackles and 6.5 sacks in 13 games, giving him 73 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks over the last three season. Mays, a former four-star prospect, has started 22 times in 30 games played during his first three years at Tennessee and has allowed just four sacks on 1,475 career offensive snaps.
