Sutton to be tested against Treadwell

Tennessee’s Cam Sutton versus Ole Miss’s Laquon Treadwell, this type of big-time one-on-one match-up doesn’t come around very often.

On Saturday, the Volunteers (3-3) will go on the road to Oxford, Miss., trying to get their first conference win of the year as well as their first win against a ranked opponent since last October. While the Vols have been close in their past two SEC games, Ole Miss provides a more intriguing challenge.

The Vols defense will be tasked with stopping one of the best receivers in college football, Laquon Treadwell. Treadwell is a quick twitch, athletic, and tall receiver with sure hands and good open-field moves. Last season, Treadwell had 72 receptions for 608 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman, and he is only 193 yards and a touchdown shy of matching those stats through six games this year.

Treadwell was named to the first (Athlon) and second team (College Football News) freshman All-American teams. Ole Miss hasn’t had an athletic receiver like this in years.

While lining up against Treadwell is intimidating, equally intimidating is the man lining up against him, Cameron Sutton. Sutton is a fast, lockdown, hard-hitting corner with a nose for the football. Through his first six games this year, Sutton has 21 tackles, 4 tackles for loss and 3 interceptions. Last year, a freshman Sutton burst onto the scene for the Vols with 39 tackles, four TFLs, one sack, two fumble recoveries, and two interceptionss. Sutton earned second team freshman All-American honors from Athlon and CFN for his efforts. As with Ole Miss and Treadwell, Tennessee hasn’t had a playmaking corner like Sutton in several years.

While both are sophomores and integral playmakers for their teams, they took very different routes to this point.

Treadwell was ranked as the top wide receiver in the 2013 class by Rivals (one spot above Tennessee’s own Marquez North), and was one of the top five-star signings of a highly regarded Ole Miss recruiting class. He started the first game his freshman year at Vanderbilt, and started relatively quiet. On Ole Miss’s second possession of the 2nd half (down 21-10), he had four receptions for 50 yards, helping jump start the Rebel offense en route to a 39-35 win.

Sutton’s recruitment was much more under the radar. A three-star prospect by Rivals, he committed to Tennessee while Derek Dooley was still the coach. Butch Jones was able to survive late pushes by Auburn among other schools to hold on and sign Sutton. Through fall camp, Sutton battled Junior Riyahd Jones and fellow freshman Malik Foreman for the corner spot opposite Justin Coleman. After splitting time with Foreman through camp into the first game against Austin Peay, Sutton took over the starting job and exploded onto the scene with a 36 yard pick six in the 2nd game. He became the first UT true freshman to start the season opening game at corner since 2011 and the first to have a pick six since 2007.

This matchup will be a pivotal key in the game this Saturday. Tennessee’s defense will need to keep this Rebel offense off the field and out of the endzone to have a shot at winning this game. Sutton’s job of keeping Treadwell in check will be a critical component to having a good defensive day.

It’s not every game that you can find an All-American vs All-American 1-on-1 matchup every play, so be sure to tune in and watch #1 and #23 go at it.

Edited by Will Lomas