KNOXVILLE - Cameron Sutton's football future almost certainly will include the NFL.
For now, the Tennessee cornerback's focus is entirely on the present.
Once Sutton completes his junior season with the Volunteers, though, he very well may have a decision to make.
Either Sutton can jump to the NFL draft, where he could be selected in the first two rounds as one of the top cornerback prospects in college football, or return to Tennessee for his senior season and help the Vols take another step.
It could be a million-dollar decision, but Sutton indicated earlier this week he doesn't expect he'll even have a decision to make after this season.
Vols glance
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Tennessee defensive back Cameron Sutton speaks to the media at the Southeastern Conference NCAA college football media days Tuesday, July 14, 2015, in Hoover, Ala. "I don't think so," he told the Times Free Press. "I think my biggest thing is graduating from here. I'm so close to graduating. I'll be done next December. My biggest thing is finishing up school.
"Once I finish up school, maybe down the line from there I'll think about it, but I'm so close with that. That's something my parents obviously, and any parent, would want their child to do, is graduate from college. I think that'll be a big thing."
The 5-foot-11, 186-pound former three-star recruit out of Georgia has been a stalwart on Tennessee's defense for the past three seasons. He'll make the 35th start of his career Saturday against North Texas. He has no interceptions this season, but he has 24 tackles and ranks second in the country in punt-return average.
In late September, Sutton was No. 19 on ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper's big board and No. 26 on fellow ESPN analyst Todd McShay's draft rankings.
He's slipped in those rankings, but most projections have Sutton solidly within the first three rounds.
Sutton doesn't think it's difficult to stay focused on the present when his dream potentially is just around the corner.
"I don't think so," he said. "That's based on an individual, his mindset and where he's at. For me, I'm a leader of this football team. I'm a college athlete. I've got a lot of stuff to worry about now, not just from a football standpoint but for school, family and things like that, that I've got to take care of first.
"That's long down the road. We've still got three important games left on our schedule that we need to win. And a big part of that is going to be on my shoulders of just making sure everyone's focused and ready to go and locked in, then just go out there and make it happen."
By the lofty standards he set with his play as a freshman and sophomore, Sutton hasn't been his best this season, even though teams are throwing to his side of the field less frequently than in 2014.
He downplayed its effects, but he took a shot to the face while on the sideline late in the fourth quarter at Florida. He missed the final defensive series of that game and looked a half-step slow the following games. He's looked more like himself in recent weeks.
Scouts like Sutton's combination of size and agility, along with his technical ability and instincts, but there are questions about his tackling and ability in run support.
What someone may not know about Sutton is his unique academic interest.
His mother, Nedra, is a respiratory nurse, and thanks to her medical background Cameron elected to go into pre-pharmacy as an undergraduate with hopes of one day going to pharmacy school.
"I have a couple cousins who are interested in or in medical school for pharmacy and things like that," he said, "and one day we might want to partnership together and do something special and get something going for ourselves."
Sutton laughed at the notion he was the only football player taking pre-pharmacy classes.
"It hasn't been the best," he added, "but it hasn't been the worst."
As for his NFL decision, Sutton won't make it without much research and thought, and he's the type of person that will be successful in any endeavor he chooses.
In the meantime, his focus is on Tennessee's final three games and not any NFL chatter.
"It's kind of one of those things you hear and you're just like, 'OK.' It just goes out the ear," Sutton said. "I hear it. People tell me all the time, but I don't let it affect me or get to me or anything like that.
"I hear it from friends or just people around me. But like I said, I've got so much right now, I really can't focus on that, because that's going to come. Hopefully I'm blessed enough to have that opportunity along the lines down the road some time, but right now I'm a football player at the University of Tennessee."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.