Josh Heupel: Tennessee's recent run of NFL Draft picks 'speaks to what we're doing'
Jaylen Wright, Joe Milton III and Kamal Hadden being picked in last week’s NFL Draft gave Tennessee Football 13 draft picks over the last three years, the most for the Vols over a three-year span in nearly 20 years.
Between 2005 and 2007, Tennessee had 14 players drafted — three in the 2005 NFL Draft, five in 2005 and six in 2007 — including three first-round picks in Jason Allen, Justin Harrell and Robert Meachem.
Josh Heupel’s Tennessee teams had five players drafted over the previous two years — Darnell Wright was the lone first-rounder, taken at No. 10 overall in last year’s draft — before adding three more picks to the list this year in Detroit.
“Excited for those guys … excited about the landing spot,” Heupel said last week during the Big Orange Caravan stop in Nashville.
Wright went in the fourth round to the Miami Dolphins, selected at No. 120 overall. Milton and Hadden both went in the sixth round, with Milton going at No. 193 to the New England Patriots and Hadden to the back-to-back defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs at No. 210 overall.
“Everybody feels really good about where they’re going to,” Heupel said, “and their opportunity to go in there and compete and grow and earn a roster spot as they go through training camp.
“For all of our guys you looked at over the last three years, the number of guys that we’ve had drafted, 13, you got to go back almost 20 years to see those types of numbers out of the Tennessee football program.”
Last year, Wright headlined a Tennessee draft class that included Hendon Hooker, Jalin Hyatt, Cedric Tillman and Byron Young, with all four players selected in the third round over a span of 10 picks.
Hooker went at No. 68 overall to the Detroit Lions, Hyatt and Tillman went with back-to-back picks to the New York Giants at No. 73 and Browns at No. 74, respectively, and Young was picked at No. 77 overall by the Los Angeles Rams.
In 2022, Alontae Taylor was first off the board in the second round, ahead of Velus Jones Jr. (third round), Matthew Butler (fifth round), Cade Mays (sixth round) and Theo Jackson (third round).
“I think it speaks to those guys,” Heupel said, “but it also speaks to what we’re doing inside of our building, our coaches pouring into them, the growth of the players. We look at our support departments, whether that’s strength, nutrition, continuing to help these guys get themselves prepared to play at a high level while they’re wearing the orange and white, but also have the opportunity to step into to the next level.”
