Reviewing Tennessee's Class of 2009: Nigel Mitchell-Thornton

Up next in reviewing the Class of 2009 is RTT#20 Nigel Mitchell-Thornton. Here's his pre-Tennessee Flash graphic followed by his 2009 Tennessee stats:

So although Mitchell-Thornton garnered only five jars due to across-the-board averageocity, with three-stars each from Rivals and Scout to a three-best offer package from Stanford, Mississippi State, and Nebraska, he played in eight games (all but Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina, Ole Miss, and Kentucky), probably due to the injury plague suffered by the linebacking corps. In those eight games, he had nine tackles, including this one for a loss against Western Kentucky:

Going by this year's spring practice reports, Mitchell-Thornton is primarily a weakside LB, a position that was actually held by a player who played and survived the entire 2009 season, Rico McCoy. It's looking like senior Savion Frazier will start at that spot in 2010 and that Mitchell-Thornton will be competing with fellow sophomore Herman Lathers to back up Frazier. For a player from whom not a great deal was expected, Mitchell-Thornton did well in his freshman season and is on track to develop into a solid contributor in 2010 and beyond for the Vols.