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Staley joins elite club for Vols; Bey released from his NLI

Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee receiver Braylon Staley was recently named as the Southeastern Conference's freshman of the year, joining the company of Peyton Manning (1994) and Jamal Lewis (1997).
Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee receiver Braylon Staley was recently named as the Southeastern Conference's freshman of the year, joining the company of Peyton Manning (1994) and Jamal Lewis (1997). Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee receiver Braylon Staley was recently named as the Southeastern Conference's freshman of the year, joining the company of Peyton Manning (1994) and Jamal Lewis (1997).

By David Paschall 4 min read

The Southeastern Conference’s freshman of the year award has one of the most loaded recipient lists imaginable.

It’s a star-studded group that includes Emmitt Smith, Eric Zeier, Danny Wuerffel, Peyton Manning, Darren McFadden, Jadeveon Clowney, Nick Chubb, Jalen Hurts, Bo Nix and Brock Bowers, and it’s a collection that now contains Braylon Staley. Tennessee’s redshirt freshman receiver recently swept the honors awarded by the major electing entities, the Associated Press and the SEC coaches.

“It’s been very rewarding,” Staley said Tuesday afternoon during a news conference. “I prayed for it, and it was kind of my goal coming into the season. I worked for it, and things came my way.”

The 6-foot, 190-pounder from Aiken, South Carolina, is just the third Volunteers player to win SEC freshman of the year, joining Manning in 1994 and Jamal Lewis in 1997.

“That’s cool to be a part of,” Staley said. “I didn’t know too much about that and didn’t really look into that. I’m just here to play ball, to be honest.”