KNOXVILLE — In the span of about six months, Cortez McDowell changed from a slender freshman safety into a promising young linebacker and Tennessee’s top special-teams tackler.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because Jalen Reeves-Maybin traversed a similar path one year earlier.
A four-star recruit out of Locust Grove High School south of Atlanta, McDowell knew he was getting only so many chances to get on the field as a freshman last season, but he took advantage of being on multiple coverage units for the Volunteers.
“I was hyped. I’m not going to lie, dude, I was excited to go out there and make a tackle or help somebody else make a tackle,” he said after Saturday’s practice. “It’s always a good feeling to involve everybody else on the team, and I’m just another player out there helping everybody else.”
If most of the players they signed could follow a similar development process as McDowell and Reeves-Maybin, Tennessee’s coaches would prefer that be the case. The roster situation hasn’t given Tennessee that luxury in recent years, though, which is why the Vols recently have had to plug true freshmen into starting positions or key contributor roles seemingly every season.