Taylor places in Hanson’s Top 100 Big Board

Former Tennessee football standout Darrell Taylor earned a spot in SI’s Top 100 Big Board for this year’s NFL Draft.

All sports may be on a temporary hiatus, but that hasn’t stopped former college football standouts from preparing for this year’s NFL Draft.

Add former Tennessee standout Darrell Taylor to that mix. 

Taylor is the only Vol to place in SI’s Top 100 Big Board this year, with other notable UT alums Jauan Jennings, Daniel Bituli and Marquez Callaway failing to make the cut.

As a redshirt senior, Taylor recorded 28 tackles. 8.5 sacks and 10 tackles for a loss while helping UT rattle off six consecutive wins to end the season, culminating in a 23-22 win over Indiana in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.

For his performance on the year, Taylor took home the 77th overall spot on Kevin Hanson’s list.

A native of Hopewell, Virginia, Taylor was instrumental in Tennessee’s late-season surge that saw a revival of its defense.

He recorded 7.5 sacks over the course of the final eight games of the season, including three outings with multiple. During that span, UT out scored it’s opponents 196-138, with 35 points coming from then top-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Turns out, that would prove to be the final time that the Vols would give up more than 24 points to finish the season. 

It also proved to be Tennessee’s final loss.

Taylor’s future was a clouded one at first after he missed time dealing with nagging injuries, but his final season on Rocky Top proved to be a memorable one.

While this year’s draft will be conducted in a private setting with no audience, the NFL has announced no plans to postpone the event.