KNOXVILLE - His last name is not Colquitt, but Trevor Daniel could probably qualify as an honorary stepbrother in Tennessee's royal punting family with a solid senior season.
Daniel enters the 2017 campaign holding the second- and sixth-place spots in the school's record book for single-season punting average. Members of the Colquitt family occupy the No. 1 (Jimmy), No. 3 (Dustin), No. 4 (Craig) and No. 5 (Britton) spots.
If Daniel maintains his career average of 45.1 yards per punt this season, or even if it drops slightly, he'll top all of them and conclude his time at Tennessee with the best career average of any punter in school history.
Daniel said he would "love to" top the career lists, but he was not overly concerned about the record book when asked about his place in it after a recent practice.
"I don't know where I would find that," Daniel said. "I'm sure they list them somewhere."
UT punting records
Single-season average(minimum 40 punts)1. Jimmy Colquitt, 46.9 yards (1982)2. Trevor Daniel, 45.7 (2015)3. Dustin Colquitt, 45.3 (2003)4. Craig Colquitt, 45 (1977)5. Britton Colquitt, 44.9 (2006)6. Trevor Daniel, 44.6 (2016)Career average1. Trevor Daniel, 45.1 yards (2015-present)2. Jimmy Colquitt, 43.9 (1981-84)3. Michael Palardy, 42.9 (2010-13)
The former walk-on from Dickson, Tenn., is humble, but page 57 of Tennessee's 2017 football media guide details the accomplishments of a special teams star who has kicked his way into elite company. In two seasons of full-time punting duty, Daniel has had 28 kicks stop inside the 10-yard line.
Wednesday brought further validation of Daniel's ability. The coaches preseason All-Southeastern Conference teams were released with Daniel as the third-team punter, one of only four Volunteers voted to one of the teams.
For the third straight year, he also is on the Ray Guy Award watch list, given to the nation's top collegiate punter.
"I'm just taking the same approach I always do, coming out here and doing the best I can do," Daniel said. "You can try to improve something every day. It's been going great. I'm enjoying it."
Daniel has also added mentor to his duties this year with freshman punter Joe Doyle from Knoxville's Farragut High School on the roster. Tennessee has a verbal commitment from high school class of 2018 punter/kicker Paxton Brooks, who could come in and compete for the punting and placekicking duties next season.
But Daniel has seen enough from Doyle to believe he could be Tennessee's punter of the future.
"Joe, for a freshman punter, is probably one of the best I've ever seen," Daniel said. "He's got it. He can punt a really good ball. But I guess what he could probably improve on would be his operation time. He's a little slow right now, which is expected from a freshman. Once we work with him on that and get his hands a little quicker, I think he'll be the guy."
Daniel was joined by senior offensive lineman Jashon Robertson, senior kick returner Evan Berry and junior wide receiver Jauan Jennings as Tennessee players honored on the preseason teams voted on by the league's coaches. Jennings and Robertson were also third-team selections, while Berry was a second-team selection.
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.