It has become common knowledge that Darnell Wright is a selfless player. It takes character to be willing to move from left tackle to right tackle in his final, NFL-showcase, season at Tennessee. Left tackle is the more desirable of the two positions in terms of status and worth.

His willingness to move to right tackle is a sign that Wright is talented enough to do so. If need be, Wright can easily return to left tackle where he played last season. If not, Wright can continue at right tackle, where he played his first two seasons at Tennessee. Yes, Wright has played a lot of snaps at offensive tackle, whichever the side.

Players who tend to shift along the offensive line throughout their careers are certainly versatile, but are often not the most talented athletes on the roster. More gifted players tend to find their spot and thrive in it. Wright is redefining that notion.

Somehow it seems that Wright’s talents have been overlooked by the masses. Tennessee center Cooper Mays has seen those talents up close and he’s been duly impressed. Mays said Wright is the type of player that may only come around once in a decade. 

If Wright goes in the first round, as many have predicted, Mays will prove quite prophetic. The Vols haven’t had an offensive lineman selected in the first round of the NFL Draft since 2014; however, Wright is projected to be drafted early in the 2023 NFL Draft.

“People don’t really know this, but Darnell is a once-in-a-very-long-time kind of athlete,” Tennessee center Cooper Mays said. “The way he moves and everything is really special.”

How special?

Wright, who is 6-foot-6 and 335 pounds can pull off a back handspring if he feels the need. He weighs 40 pounds more than Mays, but moves just as well as his “small” teammate.

“He can move better than I can dang near,” said Mays, who is 6-3 and hovers around 300 pounds. “He does a lot of freaky stuff on the football field…He does some stuff that’s really special, that normal human beings can’t do – at the speed at which he does it as well.”

Mays, who has confessed to being a fanatic about recruiting when he was in high school, did his due diligence to check out Wright when he was considering the Vols. Surprisingly, it was a basketball highlight that Mays still remembers.

“He caught a ball midair, did a 360, threw the ball back and had a perfect pass to a teammate,” Mays said. “You really can’t explain what he can do. It’s very crazy.” 

More Mays

Mays just smiled and shook his head when asked about going viral this week concerning his comments about Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker.

“It was probably about Hendon’s teeth,” Mays joked.

Hooker has a great smile. Mays wasn’t questioning that. Mays was referring to him sharing the fact that Hooker had four back teeth knocked out against Alabama early in the game last year. However, Hooker stayed in the game and played through the pain.

“He’s really tough,” Mays said. “That’s basically all it shows.”

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Hot and humid

Tennessee’s coaches said the Vols struggled a bit on Wednesday as temperatures soared and pads were donned for the first time in preseason camp.

“It’s definitely not friendly out there in the heat of the day. If it’s 95 (degrees), then it probably feels like about 105 because you’re right next to the river. You’ve got 20 pounds of pads on or whatever it is.

“It’s never going to be super pretty your first day in full pads in fall camp but I think we did a really good job of bouncing back and getting better on day four (Thursday) for sure.”