Ooh, special Saturday morning edition!
Two of the most-hyped players in the 2007 class were in-state linebackers Chris Walker and Chris Donald. Donald didn't play at all last season, however, and while Walker played in every game, he had only three tackles the entire season, and all three of them came against Louisiana-Lafayette.
There was quite a bit of talk last season about moving both of these guys to defensive end, and Walker actually did play some at end (I think) and was listed second on the depth chart at left end behind Wes Brown for the spring game. Donald was listed as third on the depth chart at middle 'backer, though, so it appears he's staying at the position at which he was recruited.
Anyway, here's a recap of both players' profiles from last year because it appears to still be the best information we have on them:
If you recall, Walker is the consummate snot-knocker and Donald was the No. 1 linebacker in the nation (in 2007, remember) who told the world he was all Vol and upon discovering the world wasn't really listening decided to have some fun with said world by sending it mixed signals about his college choice.
My gut is that these guys are, in fact, as good as we'd hoped, but that they're just biding their time in John Chavis' system.
Monday, we'll get to Gerald Jones, Lennon Creer, Brent Vinson, Ben Martin (although we don't have much info on him), and Eric Berry.