6. The J.J. Peterson Saga
When Jeremy Pruitt nabbed four-star linebacker J.J. Peterson in the 2018 recruiting class, Vol fans were hopeful the top-50 overall player and one of the best outside linebackers in the 2018 cycle would be able to come in and contribute immediately for the Vols. Peterson had the potential to join Tennessee and break into the linebacker rotation at any of the four linebacker spots.
Unfortunately for him and for UT’s defense this season, that didn’t really happen.
Peterson’s arrival kept getting pushed further and further back due to grade concerns, and he became something of a myth and legend among Vol fans over the summer. Media outlets covering Tennessee (like ours) were bombarded nearly daily with questions about Peterson’s status all through the summer and into the fall camp.
Still, Peterson wasn’t on campus.
Hints and assurances from his high school head coach, Rush Propst, came almost every week, but Peterson was still a missing man on UT’s campus. Vol fans began to doubt more and more that Peterson would ever make it on to Tennessee’s roster and would be an academic casualty.
But just when most had lost hope, good news finally came.
The Friday before Tennessee’s first game of the 2018 season against West Virginia, reports came in that Peterson would finally officially join Tennessee the following week. It was about three months later than Tennessee’s coaches and fans were hoping Peterson would make it to Knoxville, but he was finally on the roster officially.
Because of the huge delay, Peterson made a minimal impact on UT’s season in 2018. He only appeared in four games and was relegated to special teams duty in those games. He was able to get a redshirt thanks to the new NCAA redshirt rules, but his potential felt wasted for his first year at Tennessee.
