Three Tennessee football players landed on the two AP All-SEC teams on Monday afternoon. Defensive end James Pearce Jr. landed on the first team while running back Jaylen Wright and Cooper Mays landed on the second team.
Pearce was the breakout star of Tennessee’s 2023 season. The sophomore edge rusher came out of nowhere to total 24 tackles and 8.5 sacks over the 12-game regular season. Pearce ranked third in the SEC in sacks behind only Mississippi State’s Nathaniel Watson and Alabama’s Dallas Turner.
According to PFF, Pearce graded out as the SEC’s best and the nation’s 12th best EDGE defender.
Jaylen Wright’s breakout junior season wasn’t near the surprise that Pearce’s was to those that closely follow Tennessee’s program but that doesn’t minimize the running back’s impressive season.
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Wright became Tennessee’s first 1,000 yard rusher since Jalen Hurd in 2015 by totaling 1,013 yards and four touchdowns. Perhaps the most impressive part of Wright’s season is that he eclipsed 1,000 yards on just 137 carries for an insanely impressive 7.4 yards per carry.
According to PFF, Wright graded out as the SEC’s best and the nation’s 11th best running back in his fantastic junior season.
Mays proved his importance by significantly bolstering the Vols’ running game when he returned from the minor medical issue that sidelined him for the first four games of the season. Tennessee’s starting center battled injuries but proved to be one of the SEC’s best interior offensive linemen.
Tennessee caps off its 2023-24 season when it faces Iowa in the Citrus Bowl on New Years Day.
