With Tennessee clinging to a surprising 3-point lead in the second half against Auburn on Saturday, Alontae Taylor got the ball on the 2-yard line and ran it in for the score. Taylor’s first career touchdown came just 6 games into his true freshman season at Tennessee.

Make no mistake, though. This touchdown was far different from any of the record-setting 75 touchdowns Taylor racked up at Coffee County Central High School in Tennessee. That’s where he made a name for himself as a quarterback and receiver before signing with the Vols as a 4-star recruit. Even though he played some defensive back as a high school junior, the nation’s No. 21 receiver in the 2018 class had hopes of scoring plenty of touchdowns as an offensive skill player.

But on Saturday, Taylor’s first points at Tennessee didn’t come on a fade to the back of the end zone, or on a quick-hitting slant over the middle.

Instead, they came the way all defensive players draw it up — a scoop and score.

Taylor made a play on the ball after the Vols sacked and forced a fumble on Jarrett Stidham, and from his new home at cornerback, the freshman came up with the loose ball for a key second half touchdown.

That play put the exclamation point on Tennessee’s first SEC win of the Jeremy Pruitt era. In many ways, Taylor’s performance epitomized the start of a new culture in Knoxville.

The converted high school quarterback/receiver also forced a fumble and had a career-high 7 tackles to help the Vols earn their first conference win since 2016. At the midway point of his first season, he has 21 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 1 tackle for loss and the aforementioned scoop and score.

The advanced analytics coverage numbers are most impressive. Through 6 games (4 starts), Taylor ranks 6th among Power 5 cornerbacks in fewest yards allowed per coverage snap, according to Pro Football Focus.

Not bad for someone who was playing on the other side of the ball in high school at this time last year:

While Taylor has been incredibly productive at his new position, Pruitt would disagree that he’s mastered it already.

“Alontae has a lot of ability. He has a long ways to go to be the type of corner that he wants him to be and that I want him to be,” Pruitt said. “He didn’t play much defense in high school, so we have teaching moments every day, so he’s learning a lot every single day. He’s one of the best players we’ve got at that position, so he’s probably had to play when he’s not ready to play.”

As Pruitt said, receiver was where the 6-0, 186-pound freshman felt he could make his impact. So upon arrival, Taylor spent roughly 8 days at the position before Pruitt decided to change things up. Why not try and help the Vols at a position of need at cornerback? That wasn’t a seamless transition at first.

“We moved him to defensive back and he really didn’t get much better (during the spring) because I’m not sure his heart was in it,” Pruitt said. “But as the summer went and fall camp and things like that, him wanting to play defensive back has helped.”

And it helped Tennessee, which had to replace its top 3 cornerbacks from a year ago. The Vols are ranked 47th in FBS in total defense, which is a significant step up from the group that ranked 82nd last year.

Pruitt experimented with switching offensive players to defense and vice versa throughout his first offseason in Knoxville. Taylor’s move stuck. Early in fall camp, Taylor was already impressing with his ball-hawking skills.

Nothing in the first half of 2018 calmed the buzz about Taylor’s bright future in Pruitt’s defense. Nick Saban, who will see Taylor in person for the first time when Alabama travels to Knoxville on Saturday, went so far as to call the freshman’s start “outstanding.”

“I think it’s a sign of pretty good teaching and coaching on their part to be able to bring a guy along to be that productive,” Saban said. “But I think you see more and more freshmen playing now in all programs because these guys want to play early and some of them can contribute early. They have a different mindset when they come in and I think that helps them develop.”

Taylor will be in for a different kind of test Saturday. He’ll face an Alabama offense ranked first in the country at 53.6 points per contest. Heisman Trophy favorite Tua Tagovailoa has been on the same page as Alabama pass-catchers, 5 of whom have at least 17 catches, multiple touchdowns and a catch of 50 yards.

As daunting as that is for the Tennessee secondary, it’ll serve as the ultimate barometer for Taylor’s progress at the position.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of teaching moments after the game this Saturday like there’s been the other 6 Saturdays,” Pruitt said. “He’s just got to continue to work hard, learn from his mistakes, try to clean up his mistakes and play with really good effort and toughness and continue to improve.”

However Saturday turns out, it won’t change what seems to be inevitable at this point. Taylor’s willingness to switch positions and be coached by one of the game’s best defensive minds suggests his best days are ahead.

When Pruitt arrived at Tennessee, he preached the importance of finding players who were willing to buy in. At that point, Taylor was a recruit that Pruitt had to win back after he opened up his commitment following the firing of Butch Jones. It took Pruitt a whole 2 days to get Taylor on campus, and 6 days to get him committed to the Vols again. That wasn’t quite as long as the 8 practices it took to get Taylor to switch to cornerback.

Needless to say, both moves worked out well.