NFL Draft 2010 Player Profile: Dennis Rogan, Tennessee Cornerback

Dennis Rogan must be the consummate gamer. He’s not huge, he’s not especially fast, but the guy just makes plays when the lights come on. Despite gaining over 5,000 yards and four score touchdowns in high school, the recruiting services gave him only three stars. He was barely used at all for the first half of his first season, and he wasn’t used as a punt returner until 3/4 of the way through the season, but he finished his freshman year with 16 punt returns for 165 yards and had 548 yards despite only playing half of the season and then only on special teams. He did start playing some cornerback toward the end of the season as well, and he essentially won the Vanderbilt game for Tennessee:

Rogan played every game the following season, but he had to prove himself all over again when Lane Kiffin and the new staff that had arrived in 2009 overlooked Rogan’s history in favor of players with better off-the-field measurables. Punt return duties were most given to a new blue-chip arrival (who didn’t pan out), and so Rogan had only six punt returns for 46 yards. He did, however, have 42 tackles and several big plays in 2009: