Wearing single-digit jersey numbers has become popular for college football defensive linemen in recent years.
Edge rusher Byron Young wore No. 6 for Tennessee during the 2021-22 seasons and is now starring for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams wearing No. 0, while defensive end Tyler Baron wore No. 9 in his four-year career with the Volunteers. Eager to make his mark in single digits this season in Knoxville is junior defensive tackle Daevin Hobbs, who previously wore No. 53 but is now in No. 5.
“I had to get out of that garbage No. 53,” a smiling Hobbs said last week in a news conference. “I’m No. 5 now and looking nice. I’ve got to show something now. That’s my mindset.”
Hobbs has played in 24 of a possible 26 games during his first two seasons at Tennessee, seeing action in all 13 contests last year and playing 209 total defensive snaps. His busiest performance contained 32 snaps and three tackles in the 56-0 thrashing of UTEP, but he also had a tackle and a quarterback hurry in 22 snaps during the 24-17 downing of longtime rival Alabama.
The 6-foot-4, 290-pounder from Concord, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, signed with the Vols in the 2023 recruiting class as the nation’s No. 4 defensive lineman and the No. 36 overall prospect, according to 247Sports.com. He enrolled early but underwent a shoulder procedure, and he underwent another shoulder procedure earlier this year.