4 Tennessee football players make SEC All-Freshman team
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Josh Heupel’s youngest Tennessee football team of his coaching tenure produced four players who made the 2025 SEC All-Freshman team.
The list was voted on by the league’s head coaches and includes true freshmen and redshirt freshmen. It was released on Dec. 11.
Wide receiver Braylon Staley, the SEC Freshman of the Year, leads the team. Offensive tackle David Sanders, linebacker Edwin Spillman and cornerback Ty Redmond and also made SEC All-Freshman.
Tennessee and Alabama led with four players each. The Vols’ representation on the team is predictable. Their 2025 roster consisted of 49% freshmen and redshirt freshmen, the highest proportion of Heupel’s tenure.
No. 23 Tennessee (8-4) plays Illinois (8-4) in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30 (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Nashville.
What Tennessee football players did to make SEC All-Freshman
Staley led Tennessee with 64 receptions along with 806 yards and six touchdowns. He ranked second nationally among freshmen in both receptions and receiving yards.
Some of Staley’s best games were against College Football Playoff teams. He had nine catches for 97 yards and one against Georgia. He had a career-high 10 catches for 92 yards and one TD against Alabama. And he had five catches for 75 yards and a career-high two TDs against Oklahoma.
Sanders were a starting offensive lineman for the highest scoring offense in the SEC (40.8 ppg). He played eight games, including five starts at right tackle, after recovering from a preseason injury.
Redmond, an All-SEC third-team selection, was an obvious choice for the All-Freshman squad. He tied for the SEC lead with 13 passes defended and led the Vols with three interceptions.
Redmond was thrust into the lineup because of injuries to starting cornerbacks Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson. He played 12 games with 11 starts. And Redmond logged 726 defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, the fifth-most among SEC cornerbacks.
Spillman made 74 tackles, the second-most for the Vols. He also had 3.5 tackles-for-loss, 2.5 sacks, one interception and three quarterback hurries.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: 4 Tennessee football players make SEC All-Freshman team
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