20 reasons I'm not worried that our seniors are leaving us:
Yes, we'll lose some very impactful players after this season, guys like Jauan Jennings and Daniel Bituli. Strong players, and strong leaders. We will miss them.
But we're gonna be fine. Because this happens to every team, every year, and new leaders, new studs, have a way of emerging.
And we already know we've got several of those, because they have already begun their emergence.
So...the 20 reasons I'm not worried:
- Aubrey Solomon
- Darel Middleton
- Henry To'o To'o
- Quavaris Crouch
- Bryce Thompson
- Alontae Taylor
- Jarrett Guarantano (don't count so fast on him leaving for Rutgers)
- Brian Maurer
- JT Shrout
- Ty Chandler
- Tim Jordan
- Josh Palmer
- Brandon Johnson
- Trey Smith (maybe...okay, maybe not, but still maybe)
- Brandon Kennedy (maybe)
- Darnell Wright
- Wanya Morris
- Brent Cimaglia
- Joe Doyle
- Paxton Brooks
And that doesn't even count some of the youngest players who came in as heralded recruits or transfers
Not all twenty of those listed will emerge as strong leaders, but that's okay, it only takes a few on each side of the ball. All have the potential to become real play-makers, and leaders-by-action, showing the younger kids how to practice, how to strive for excellence, how to win.
So yep, not too worried. With this coaching staff to develop and guide them, we're going to be just fine.
Go Vols!
p.s. And this is critically important: before you can be a good team
leader, you have to be a good team
member. And the Vols took a HUGE step forward in that regard this year. All those young men have been learning, all season long, how to be good team members. What it feels like to meld into something that adds up to more than all of you put together, and how to sustain and replicate that. They're learning that now, even the youngest. And that will make them SO much better when it's their turn to lead, next year or the year after. That is, perhaps, the single biggest win of the season for our program, and CJP & Co.'s greatest accomplishment so far. Missing for years--we have it now.
Go Vols!
