JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The first time Brandon Scherff watched game film of Derek Barnett, the Iowa left tackle thought the Tennessee defensive end was a second- or third-year player.
Then one of his coaches told the Outland Trophy winner Barnett was just a freshman, and the 6-foot-5, 320-pound fifth-year senior said "absolutely" surprised him.
"I didn't even know that the first time I watched him," Scherff recalled on Wednesday after the Volunteers and Hawkeyes held their news conferences for Friday's TaxSlayer Bowl. "I asked coach who this was, and he was like, 'Yeah, he's only a freshman.' I was like, 'Good for him, he's going to be a really good player.'"
The 6-foot-3, 267-pound Barnett showed he's better than good with an impressive debut season. The former four-star recruit finished second in the SEC, trailing only Missouri's Shane Ray, with 20.5 tackles for loss and added 11 sacks and 69 tackles to his All-SEC freshman season.
Scherff's resume is far from shabby, too. He won the Outland Trophy given annually to the nation's top lineman in December and earned a second straight All-Big Ten nod. He likely will be one of the first tackles off the board in the upcoming NFL draft.
"He's a great player, very deserving of all the postseason awards, preseason awards and all the accolades that his play has brought about," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. "It's going to be a great challenge to our entire defensive front, obviously with Curt (Maggitt) and Derek as well.
"They're playing against a first-round draft choice," he added, "and as a competitor, you want to play against the best of the best, and you're definitely going to be playing against the best of the best."
Maggitt, who edged Barnett for the team lead in sacks by notching a dozen of his own, may line up across from Scherff some, too, but Barnett probably will see Iowa's best player on just about every snap.
"Derek is a very unique person," Maggitt said. "He's a very mature person off the field and a very mature guy on the field. I've got a lot of respect for him, and we do compete a lot. We count during the game and say 'I'm going to get a sack on this series,' and ask each other, 'How many sacks you got in this game so far?'"
The young up-and-comer against the grizzled veteran is easily the most intriguing matchup of the game as the Vols pit their defensive front against the strength of Iowa's team.
"They're really quick off the edge," Scherff said. "They've got a good stab move. If you stop their power, they're going to go on speed, and if you can't stop their speed, they're going to stay on that. We're looking forward to the challenge. We've just got to give ourselves a chance.
"I love competition. Barnett, he's going to be good competition for me. He comes off the edge fast, and he'll do the stab move, bull-rush, all the things we like to go up against as an offensive line. They're going to be a great challenge for us."
Bowl fun
Tennessee and Iowa players spent Tuesday afternoon at a beach party that included various games and activities and a rib-eating contest -- Tennessee's winner was 350-pound redshirting freshman offensive lineman Charles Mosley -- and both teams picked out some of their gifts later Tuesday.
As part of the TaxSlayer Bowl's gift package, which the NCAA limits to $550 total, players received a $100 Fossil watch and were able to choose up to $450 in Panasonic products, which will be sent directly to them in Knoxville, at a gift suite.
Another aspect of the trip has stood out to Maggitt, though.
"I love seafood," the Florida native said. "That seafood, that was great. Crabs, oysters, lobster -- I mean, you can't go wrong with it. Tuna, ribs and steak. It was good."
TaxSlayer Bowl president Rick Catlett said more than 60,000 tickets have been sold for Friday's game at the 77,511-seat EverBank Field.
Status updates
Jacob Gilliam suffered an injury to his left hand earlier this week and practiced on Tuesday with a cast wrapped into a club on it, but he is expected to be fine for Friday's game.
"He'll be ready to play in the game," Jones said. "He'll have a little bit of a cast on the hand. Like Jake and I talked about before, it's very fitting. You look at his career and the course of his career, and this is just one more thing to add to the list. But he'll be fine."
Defensive tackle Jordan Williams was scheduled to be one of Tennessee's player representatives at Wednesday's news conference, but flu-like symptoms kept him from attending.
"He's a little bit ill right now," Jones said, "but he should be fine come game time."
Vols land Martin
Tennessee will enter the new year with some recruiting momentum after landing Justin Martin, one of the nation's top-rated junior college talents.
"Thank you to all the coaches and family that helped me with this process. I have officially committed to the University of Tennessee," the 6-foot-2, 192-pound cornerback posted on his Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon.
The four-star prospect, who has three years of eligibility remaining, originally from Nashville played this season at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, where he recorded 24 tackles, forced one fumble and broke up three passes in nine games.
Martin was down to LSU and Tennessee, and the looming departure of LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis, a former long-time assistant at Tennessee, to Texas A&M likely played a role in his choice. Martin's scholarship offer list included Oregon, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, Mississippi State and Ole Miss, among others.
Nashville defensive back Ugo Amadi, a former Ole Miss pledge, committed to LSU over Tennessee on Tuesday.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.