If loyalty to a university was the chief factor in determining NFL draft status, there would be a slew of Tennessee players going in the early rounds of next month's three-day event in Las Vegas.
Defensive tackle Matthew Butler and receiver Velus Jones Jr. used the NCAA's extra year due to the coronavirus outbreak to have super senior seasons with the Volunteers, with Butler playing five years in Knoxville and Jones two after transferring from Southern California. Cornerback Alontae Taylor of Coffee County stayed true to his state school while teammates jumped ship in the January 2021 coaching transition from Jeremy Pruitt to Josh Heupel, and even tackle Cade Mays came home for his final two seasons after originally choosing Georgia's stability and success following the implosion of Tennessee in the Butch Jones era.
"Tennessee has prepared me in many ways and in ways that showed up when I got to the Senior Bowl and to the (NFL) combine," Taylor said Tuesday in a news conference. "The strength staff here helped me get bigger, stronger and faster, and when it came to the board work at the Senior Bowl and at the combine, it was simple and easy. I kind of shocked myself knowing that my IQ of the game is really big, and Tennessee prepared me for that.
"This is what I've dreamed of, and it's finally here now."
Nine former Vols will showcase their skills Wednesday afternoon at Tennessee's pro day in the Anderson Training Center. Butler, Jones, Mays and Taylor will be joined by receiver JaVonta Payton, defensive lineman Ja'Quain Blakely, walk-on linebacker Donovan Slates, and defensive backs Theo Jackson and Kenneth George Jr.
Jones is the only Tennessee player who showed up on NFL.com's four-round mock draft that was released earlier this week, with the receiver and return specialist getting pegged midway through the fourth round to Indianapolis. Jones amassed 62 receptions for 807 yards and seven touchdowns last season but certainly turned heads at the combine with a 40-yard dash time of 4.31 seconds.
"A lot of people were expecting me to run a high 4.4, and I even heard a 4.5," Jones said Tuesday. "I knew all along what I could run, but I didn't think I was going to run a 4.31. I tapped into another level there."
Taylor sizzled at the combine as well with a 4.36 in the 40, with Butler and Mays also among the 324 players and 82 Southeastern Conference players invited to the NFL's top talent stage. Jones, Mays and Taylor went to Indianapolis after traveling to the Senior Bowl in early February, while Butler and Jackson received invites to the East West Shrine Bowl in Last Vegas.
"I went out there with a chip on my shoulder," Butler said. "I think everybody knows that the Shrine Bowl is a really good bowl, but I wanted to be in the Reese's (Senior) Bowl and didn't know why I wasn't. I went out there thinking there wasn't anybody better than me, and I wanted to prove myself right."
Once Wednesday's pro day is over, it will be a waiting game for the participants. Taylor has been training out in Arizona and said he went there weighing 187 pounds with 7% body fat and now weighs 199 with 5% body fat.
Yet no training or body shaping measures can conquer the unknown that awaits each of these Vols.
"Going into signing day, you have an idea of exactly what you're getting into," Taylor said. "You know who the coaching staff is going to be, and you kind of know what the environment is like and what Knoxville is like. In this situation, you don't have a clue about anything.
"You don't know where you're going to live here in a couple months."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.