Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Tennessee defensive back Alontae Taylor (2) looks up after praying before kickoff agianst BYU during a NCAA football game at Neyland Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019 in Knoxville, Tenn.HOOVER, Ala. – It’s easy to grow cynical about the future of big-time college athletics, especially Power Five conference football and men’s basketball.
Whether it be the transfer portal, Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) or begging off a bowl game to prepare for the NFL draft, there’s a growing sense, fair or not, that the elite athlete cares more about himself than his school.
Just don’t count Tennessee senior defensive back Alontae Taylor among that group.
Taylor grew up in Manchester, Tennessee, where he scored 75 career touchdowns at Coffee County High School, so it’s fair to say his blood ran UT Orange long before he started eight games, including the Vols’ opener, as a true freshman in 2018.
Still, he also watched numerous teammates and classmates head to the transfer portal after Jeremy Pruitt was let go as the UT coach last January. A legitimate NFL prospect, Taylor surely had options to move on to programs that figure to be far more successful than this season’s Vols.