2. Kyle Phillips, DE
Injuries played a part in Kyle Phillips not living up to his five-star billing early in his career, but his continued lack of production last season is still fairly baffling. Phillips was one of the top players in the state of Tennessee in the 2015 class, and he flashed some early potential as a freshman before an injury cut his season short in 2015.
Phillips came back in 2016 but didn’t really look the same, and he had to play out of position for part of the season because of injuries to Tennessee’s defensive tackles. He and Jonathan Kongbo got moved inside to defensive tackle out of necessity, and neither one performed extremely well there. Finally, Phillips appeared healthy and ready to go last season as one of the Vols’ starting defensive ends after Derek Barness, LaTroy Lewis, and Corey Vereen left the roster. But he never really stepped up into the new role thanks, once again, to nagging injuries and lack of consistency. In his seven starts and 12 overall appearances, Phillips totaled just 35 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks.
The former five-star defensive end is now a senior, and this is his last chance to show that he has the talent everyone thought he had coming out of high school. That’s the story for a lot of Tennessee’s defensive players, but it especially rings true for Phillips.
