Tennessee defensive back Cameron Sutton (23) walks into the end zone after returning a kickoff against Vanderbilt in November in Nashville. The Vols will play Iowa in the Taxslayer Bowl.
Tennessee defensive backs Cameron Sutton, left, and defensive end Derek Barnett celebrate stopping Utah State on 3rd down during the Vols’ season-opener football game against the Aggies on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.HOOVER, Ala. — When the preseason watch list for the Thorpe Award, given annually to the top defensive back in college football, was announced on Monday, Cameron Sutton’s name was not on it.
It was the latest in a string of accolades that haven’t come the way of the Tennessee cornerback, who probably has a reason to feel like he’s being overlooked nationally and within the SEC after not making either of the all-conference teams following his sophomore season.
One of the Volunteers’ top defenders and team leaders, Sutton shrugged all of it off on Tuesday.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” he said during Tennessee’s turn at SEC media days. “It doesn’t start here. Even before high school and stuff like that, I wasn’t highly-recruited and this and that. I don’t really worry about it. You have to play the game at the end of the day.”
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Sutton was a three-star prospect coming out of Jonesboro High School, where he was a multi-sport star who played basketball and baseball.