KNOXVILLE To his teammates and coaches, it came as a surprise.
For Tennessee cornerback Cam Sutton, it probably just became something he could use as fuel as he turns the page to his junior season.
The sophomore was one of the key pieces defensively for the Volunteers this season, but Sutton was left off both the Associated Press and coaches' All-SEC teams released earlier this month, even though he's one of the league's best players at his position.
"If I was a betting man -- I don't bet -- but if I was guessing, I think it probably motivates him," Vols secondary coach Willie Martinez said this past week "This is a tough league. This is a league that's got a lot of really good players, and from top to bottom it's the best in the country.
"I thought he had a good year. Could he have a better one? I bet you he'd be the first one to tell you he could. He's been really productive for us, and I think he finished fourth in the league in passes defended.
"I was surprised that he wasn't at least mentioned, whether it's honorable mention or second- or third-team, but that's something that gives him an opportunity to be more motivated for the next year."
Only Sutton, who was an All-SEC freshman team pick in 2013, can answer if he felt snubbed or will use it as motivation. If he did feel he was overlooked, it probably wasn't the first time.
Though he received scholarship offers from more than half the SEC and a few ACC programs, the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from Georgia was rated only a three-star prospect coming out of Jonesboro High School.
A multisport star -- he played basketball, was a center fielder and leadoff man for the baseball team and said he "tried to do track here and there" -- who didn't participate in recruiting camps and played in one state all-star game, Sutton wasn't really regarded as one of the big-name recruits in Tennessee's 2013 class when he arrived.
"I just embrace that," he said. "I don't worry about what the critics and things like that say. I can't really get caught up on that, because football's not played on paper. It's about what you do out there on the field.
"If I continue to keep producing and getting better and working hard each and every day, hopefully it leads me to somewhere I want to be one day."
Statistics for cornerbacks are difficult to evaluate, since most of the top players at the position typically don't have the ball thrown their way that often and thus don't get the opportunity to pile up numbers.
Ole Miss's Senquez Golson, who led the SEC with nine interceptions, and Florida's Vernon Hargreaves, regarded as one of the league's top NFL prospects at corner, were the first-team selections by the AP and the coaches.
Auburn's Jonathan Jones, who shared the SEC lead with Golson with 17 passes defended and had six interceptions, Georgia's Damian Swann and Alabama's Cyrus Jones got second-team nods.
"We need to win more," Martinez said. "I think that we when we have more success and we're winning, I think winning has a lot to do with individual awards. We always talk about that: The more you win, the more you get recognized.
"Sometimes you get awards that maybe you're not as deserving as some of the other guys from other teams, and it could be a product of losses and wins."
Sutton broke up a team-leading 11 passes with three interceptions, and he added 35 tackles and four for loss. The 14 passes defended ranked fourth in the SEC and were the fifth-most in a single season in Tennessee history. Jonathan Wade (2006) and Deon Grant (1999) have the most with 17 each, while Gibril Wilson (2003) and Jabari Greer (2002) are tied for third.
The Vols were fifth in the SEC in passing yards allowed and seventh in the league in pass-efficiency defense, and Sutton rarely was beaten for big plays or touchdowns.
"A lot of times Cam doesn't get thrown at, and he does some things (where) he doesn't get pass break-ups and stuff like that, but in coverage he takes away routes and balls aren't be thrown his way," Martinez said. "To us, he helps us win a lot, and those are things you're not getting stats for.
"We talk about affecting the quarterback or special-effort plays, and he has a lot of those where he's got third-down stops where he's covering his guys man-to-man and they're not even attempting to throw the ball over there."
Asked directly about not being on the All-SEC teams a few days after they came out, Sutton delivered a direct response.
"Football's not played on paper," he said. "It really doesn't matter to me. I know what I can do. I know the coaches have belief in me, and everybody else around me and this team.
"It'll be a motivator to keep working harder than I already work each and every day, and it'll keep pushing me, but it's not going to make no big deal that I'm left off of that or anything like that."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.