Volquest Answers Your Tennessee Football, Basketball & Recruiting Questions In The Mailbag I 4.25

Three Tennessee Football players heard their names called in the 2024 NFL Draft on Saturday, with running back Jaylen Wright going in the fourth round and quarterback Joe Milton and defensive back Kamal Hadden getting picked in the sixth round.

Wright went to the Miami Dolphins with the 120th overall pick, Milton was picked at No. 193 overall by the New England Patriots and Hadden went to the Kansas City Chiefs at pick No. 211.

After the seven-round draft ended, eight former Tennessee players signed as undrafted free agents:

McCallan Castles — Philadelphia Eagles

Castles, who spent one season at Tennessee after transferring from UC Davis, caught 22 passes for 283 yards and five touchdowns last season, averaging 12.3 yards per catch and 21.8 yards per game.

Jacob Warren — Las Vegas Raiders

Warren, the fifth-year senior tight end, caught 53 passes for 607 yards and eight touchdowns with the Vols. He caught 16 passes for a career-high 191 yards and four touchdowns in 13 games last season.

Ramel Keyton — Oakland Raiders

Keyton in five seasons at Tennessee caught 86 passes for 1,456 yards and 11 touchdowns. He had career highs with 35 catches for 642 yards and six touchdowns in 13 games last season. 

Aaron Beasley — Seattle Seahawks 

Beasley, another fifth-year senior, had 238 total tackles, 32.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks in 44 career games. He added an interception that he returned for a touchdown, six passes defended, four fumble recoveries and one forced fumble. Beasley over the last three seasons had 229 tackles, 32.0 tackles for loss and all of his 7.5 sacks.

Gabe Jeudy-Lally — Tennessee Titans 

Jeudy-Lally, the transfer defensive back who played previously at BYU and Vanderbilt, and 41 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss and 1.0 sacks during his 13-game career at Tennessee. He had 138 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two interceptions and 13 passes defended. 

Jeremiah Crawford — Carolina Panthers

Crawford in three seasons at Tennessee played in 30 games and made 13 starts at tackle on the offensive line. He started seven times in 10 games last season, six times in 10 games in 2022 and appeared in 10 games off the bench in 2021 after transferring to Tennessee from Butler Community College in Kansas.

Jaylen McCollough — Los Angeles Rams

McCollough played in 54 games at Tennessee over five seasons, finishing with 241 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks and six interceptions. He had 58 tackles each of the last two seasons and combined for 6.5 tackles for loss.

Dee Williams — Seattle Seahawks

Williams flashed brilliance as a return specialist during his two seasons at Tennessee, returning 35 punts for 540 yards, averaging 15.4 yards per punt and taking two punts back for touchdowns. 

This pivotal offseason remains an ongoing project, but the Tennessee Titans can be optimistic about the direction. They are better than they were a few days ago.

And they’re a lot better than they were a few months ago.

The Titans’ seven-player 2024 NFL Draft class, after an eventful run in free agency, was another step in rebuilding and reshaping a roster and a team that’ll look much different under a new coaching staff led by Brian Callahan.

“I feel really good about the draft class and what these guys are going to be able to come in and do,” Titans general manager Ran Carthon said. “I think we have some guys that are going to come and compete to start, and I think we have some guys that’ll compete for spots and make us a team with some depth.

“I know there’s still some holes to fill, and we’re going to get to it.”

The Tennessee Titans’ 2024 NFL Draft class

1st round (No. 7): JC Latham, OT, Alabama2nd round (No. 28): T’Vondre Sweat, DT, Texas4th round (No. 106): Cedric Gray, LB, North Carolina5th round: (No. 146): Jarvis Brownlee Jr., CB, Louisville6th round (No. 182): Jha’Quan Jackson, WR, Tulane7th round (No. 242): James Williams, LB, Miami7th round (No. 252): Jaylen Harrell, EDGE, Michigan

What I like about this class

Not a lot of risk-taking here, and that’s good. The Titans didn’t need boom-or-bust players. They needed reliable draft picks they could depend on to immediately step in and bolster a subpar 53-man roster.

To that end, they leaned toward physically mature players who were productive and durable in college. With their first few picks, the Titans put the 2023 Outland Trophy winner (Sweat) with a tackling machine (Gray) and a proven, trusted player (Latham) for Nick Saban at Alabama. Yes, Latham will have to change positions, but no matter what, you’d expect him to be in the starting five on the O-line.

What I dislike about this class

There were too many needs on this roster for the Titans to be able to address them all with seven selections, yet they never traded down to add more picks. And they probably could have done it without many of these names being different. Undrafted free agency, once again, looms important for a team still searching for contributors.

Best value pick

In 2021, Williams was a five-star high school prospect and the nation’s No. 15 overall recruit in the 247Sports Composite rankings. To see why, go find highlights from his time at Miami and enjoy him flying to the football and punishing ball carriers. A seventh-round flier for that type of talent? Heck, yeah.

Worst reach

Even before Sweat’s recent arrest, opinions varied on where the big man should be projected. Taking Sweat six picks into the second round was an expensive price for a prospect The Athletic’s Dane Brugler had with a Day 3 grade as the draft’s 10th-best defensive tackle.

Biggest question

Whether Latham can make the switch to left tackle after playing right tackle at Alabama. If not, that’ll mean the Titans used back-to-back picks in the top 11 on offensive linemen they don’t trust to protect Will Levis’ blind side at one of the sport’s most premium positions.

Estes: Titans drafted a project in JC Latham because of trust in Bill Callahan

Recommended: Titans first-round pick JC Latham’s journey an example of ability to embrace change

The Titans improved the most on . . .

The defensive front seven needed a boost in the draft and got it with Sweat and Gray, who Carthon said was capable of handling calls for the defense. That’d be a big deal with Azeez Al-Shaair now in Houston. Grabbing a linebacker like Williams and last season’s sack leader for national champion Michigan (Harrell) in the draft’s final picks didn’t hurt, either.

The Titans didn’t improve enough at . . .

Several spots. Tight end and safety jump out as the most troublesome positions after the draft, and while veteran free agents will be available to help, that’d be plugging holes rather than building for the future.

I’m higher than the experts on . . .

Williams. There are good reasons why he wasn’t a highly coveted draft pick. He’s the classic linebacker/safety tweener who is often undervalued in the pros, and as NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein wrote: “While it’s fun watching him run and strike from high safety, it is much less fun watching his coverage confusion.”

But the talent is there, and after sitting on his couch for three days, Williams got emotional while describing what it meant to him to get that late call. I think the Titans may have something with Williams. At the very least, he should be fun to watch on coverage units.

I wasn’t as enamored with . . .

Jackson has playmaking potential that could make him a late-round steal. But the Titans had all kinds of opportunities to grab an impactful wide receiver in this draft, and they waited until the sixth round to take an undersized slot receiver/punt returner with injury concerns. Those guys are a dime a dozen in the NFL, and the Titans already have Kyle Philips and Kearis Jackson. Is the new guy better and more physically reliable than those two returning slot receivers? The new coaching staff must think so.

I’m intrigued by . . .

This line about Brownlee from Brugler’s profile: “(He) makes it a point to get in the head of receivers and beat them up physically and mentally.” Hmmm. I’m eager to see how that’ll go in practice against DeAndre Hopkins.

Most likely to start Week 1

Latham. If he doesn’t play left tackle, the Titans don’t have a left tackle.

Bottom line

This class didn’t move the needle very far in terms of star power, but it’s tough to find many problems with it. The Titans checked as many boxes as they could with the picks available. Above all, they got stronger on both lines of scrimmage and added seven players who should all be capable of at least making the team out of training camp.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.

Kirby Connell turned toward his outfield and howled.

The left-handed relief pitcher, known just as much for his mustache, struck out his second batter in two innings on Saturday and knew that Tennessee baseball not only won a game against Missouri. The Vols pulled off the always challenging SEC series sweep.

No. 3 Tennessee (37-7, 15-6 SEC) beat Missouri 10-1 on Thursday and won 3-2 both on Friday and Saturday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Last year, Tennessee was swept by Missouri (19-26, 6-15). 

The Vols have won seven games in a row.

Here are the takeaways from the three-game series:

SEC series sweep

It was the second series sweep against an SEC opponent this season. Their first was at home against LSU on April 12-14. 

“A sweep is nice, it’s very difficult to get,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said. “But when we do play these series our guys know the task at hand: We’re trying to get to two wins before the other team.” 

Dean Curley, who had two RBIs on Saturday, said that winning three straight is “awesome” and that it is the result of the hard work from practice during the week. 

The Vols had three SEC sweeps last season. 

Winning ‘pretty’ and ‘ugly’

The Vols won the series opener with a season-high tying six home runs.

In the next two victories, Tennessee did not hit a single home run and its identical one-run wins were largely on the backs of its defense. Starting pitcher Drew Beam (6-1) allowed six hits and two hits and struck out eight in 7.1 innings on Friday.

Vitello said that the Vols are proving they can pick up wins when the runs aren’t as easy to come by and it’s valuable experience to have before the postseason starts. 

Before the series, Tennessee had only won three games in which it scored three or fewer runs.

“You don’t have to win pretty but you just got to win ugly,” Vitello said on Friday. “The team has high ambitions and we’re just looking to become the best versions of ourselves. And in pursuit of doing that, we kind of opened up this Rolodex of ways that we can win and people that we can with.”

Vitello admitted that the defense might be slightly underrated as the bullpen has continued to improve from the start of the season.  

“We didn’t feel like defense and pitching, we’re here to brag about it even though we want that to be our strength,” Vitello said. “(Pitching) coach (Frank) Anderson has done such a good job with those pitchers it has become a strength.”

Blake Burke’s hitting streak ends 

Blake Burke’s school record for consecutive games with a hit ended at 31 on Thursday. 

The junior first baseman, who is second in home runs for a career at Tennessee with 44, also didn’t register a hit on Friday. It was the first time this year that Burke has gone without a hit in back-to-back games. He was 1-for-4 on Saturday.

VOLS HOME RUN LEADERS: Inside Blake Burke and Christian Moore’s homer-bashing, record-trading chase for Tennessee baseball

Vitello admitted that he didn’t closely monitor the streak and implied that it’s possibly a positive that it’s over. 

He said that he’s sure that Burke and other players aren’t as concerned with individual records as they tell him they want to win as a team.

“I’ll take Blake Burke 0-for-4 or 5-for-5 any day of the week and he’s kind of already established his status as a Vol. He’s right up there with anyone … J.P. (Arencibia), Todd (Helton), he’s a Vol legend.”

Toyloy Brown III is a Knox News sports reporter. Email toyloy.brown@knoxnews.com. On X, formerly Twitter, @TJ3rd_.