Author Archives: Brad Shepard

Tennessee Recruiting: Jackson Lampley Gets ’19 Class Started With a Bang

The only way to put a forgettable ’18 National Signing Day in the rearview mirror is to move ahead to the 2019 recruiting class, and new Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt and Co., already have started building relationships they had to rush in this year’s haul.

One of those new relationships paid off with a big commitment on Thursday, just one day after the finishing touches were put on a successful half-class for the Vols.

UT legacy Jackson Lampley went public with his pledge to Pruitt and his staff, after committing to them privately a few weeks ago. Volquest.com’s Austin Price broke the news, and it’s not only a big-time player, it also comes at a major need position.

During his first few classes, former UT coach Butch Jones thrived on getting Vol legacies to commit to their family school with mixed results. Perhaps the biggest miss in that area came this past cycle when 5-star offensive tackle Cade Mays decommitted from Tennessee and spurned the Vols to play for hated rival Georgia. Mays left his UT commitment when Jones’ final season began spiraling out of control, and he didn’t give Pruitt a fair chance to lure him back.

Lampley made certain early on he wouldn’t do the same. His dream has always been to play for the Big Orange, and he made that a reality with his pledge. The 4-star offensive tackle from Montgomery Bell Academy is the nation’s No. 211 player on 247Sports, and is a top-300 prospect in the Composite rankings.

The 6’4″, 299-pound lineman already boasted offers from plenty of top programs, choosing UT over LSU, Auburn, Florida, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Penn State and many others. His early 247Sports profile has this to say about his initial evaluation:

Lampley gets off the ball well and has a strong initial punch. He shows good power and strength. Lampley is comfortable run blocking or in pass pro. He is a good athlete and has good flexibility. Lampley is relentless and plays until the whistle blows. He can play too high at times, so he needs to improve his pad level, but he has a lot of natural ability and his best football is ahead.

Tennessee hopes to pair Lampley with 5-star West Virginia offensive lineman Darnell Wright, whom Pruitt already has met with multiple times. The Vols are aggressively starting the ’19 class, and with needs all over the field, getting Lampley is a great start. Two of Lampley’s friends are instate 4-star defensive end Joseph Anderson, and 4-star defensive end Bill Norton who already have offers from most of the major programs in the country. This can’t hurt UT’s pursuit of those two.

This upcoming season is another banner year instate, and though Pruitt and Co. are getting a late start in building relationships, this is a quality commitment who can get started with peer recruiting. Players like Trey Knox, Lance Wilhoite, Maurice Hampton, Norton, Woodi Washington and many others make this a loaded class in the Volunteer State. It’s a good opportunity for Pruitt to flex his recruiting muscle and put a subpar close to this past class behind him.

It always helps to get a player of Lampley’s ilk to get things rolling. His father, Brad, played offensive line for the Vols in the 1990s and was part of former coach and current athletic director Phillip Fulmer’s first recruiting class at UT. Lampley’s bloodlines run deep, and orange blood flows through those veins.

Pruitt has made it clear that he’ll go anywhere in the country to find the best players, but he didn’t have to travel far to get the one that started the 2019 class in fashion. Lampley was in UT’s back yard, and he will have every opportunity to step in, learn under Will Friend and be a key component in Pruitt’s rebuild.

National Signing Day 2018: Hard Dose of Reality for Vols Coach Jeremy Pruitt

Hey, listen: Let’s just call National Signing Day 2018 what it was, independent of passing judgment on any of the kids who signed to be Tennessee Volunteers and without heaping criticism on new UT coach Jeremy Pruitt.

Today was an awful ending to a good recruiting class.

Yes, the Vols had some eventful moments, signing key-need players like plucking 3-star safety Trevon Flowers away from Clemson and others, 3-star defensive tackle John Mincey from South Carolina and 3-star JUCO defensive tackle Emmit Gooden from West Virginia.

They also received commitments/signed Georgia defensive tackle Kurott Garland, Las Vegas receiver Cedric Tillman and Chattanooga safety Joseph Norwood — none of which had any offers from major programs.

The biggest coup of the day was 4-star JJ Peterson — the nation’s top outside linebacker — who followed through with his commitment and chose the Vols over late overtures from Alabama, giving Pruitt an instant-impact weapon for his rebuilding, revamped defense. None of that can — or should — be overlooked.

But today was about the players the Vols didn’t get.

Yes, I know that’s exactly what Pruitt told us not to do, dwell on the players Tennessee missed on but be excited about the ones it signed. Heck, I told you not a week ago that we couldn’t dwell on the misses.

After Wednesday’s fallout, though, that’s like the old saying about asking Mrs. Lincoln about the play.

Pruitt entered his first [mini] recruiting cycle swinging for the fences, aiming at marquee players who were unsigned, hell-bent on bringing at least a couple of them to Knoxville. None of those materialized in commitments.

Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Sure, guys like Flowers, Mincey and Peterson were key cogs to this class regardless of how the end shook out. They were always going to have a spot. But Pruitt also brought in top-notch players at major-need positions on official visits, only to watch all those guys decide to sign elsewhere.

Not only that, but 4-star running back Anthony Grant and 4-star receiver Jordan Young flipped their commitments from Tennessee and signed with Florida State, adding insult to injury.

The rocky finish began on Saturday when offensive tackle Dylan Wonnum elected to join his brother at South Carolina. Then, beginning with the early-morning news of Grant’s flip on Wednesday, the tone was set.

There was a brief respite with good news from Mincey and Flowers mid-morning, but that was the last real ray of the day’s light.

One by one, Vols fans watched television or refreshed internet screens in horror.

Not only did rival Georgia beat out the Vols for stud linebacker Quay Walker’s signature, Walker showed up UT by putting on a Vols hat and then flipping it across the room before picking the Dawgs in a classless gesture. It’s hard to say what was worse — that charade or the fact that Young would have been an unknown receiver at West Virginia State had the Vols not found him, and he repaid Pruitt by signing with FSU.

While Pruitt tried to build a relationship with Taiyon Palmer, his long-standing rapport with the North Carolina State staff led to him signing with the Wolfpack.

Defensive tackle Otito Ogbonnia decided to play for Chip Kelly at UCLA.

Tight end Glen Beal — who was thought to be leaning to UT just mere days ago — chose Texas A&M.

Then, star cornerback Olaijah Griffin picked USC despite saying Tennessee had a big lead a month ago following his official visit.

While Tennessee got some good vibes from receiver Jacob Copeland throughout the morning, he ultimately signed with Florida over the Vols and Alabama.

Finally, Isaac Taylor-Stuart capped off the night by joining Griffin in the Trojans’ defensive backfield.

Walker was a tough blow, simply because he had a long-standing relationship with Pruitt and defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer, and the Vols thought they were right in the thick of things until the end. It was also a disappointment that UT struck out with players at a major-need position of cornerback. Griffin and Taylor-Stuart stayed out West, long-shot Tyson Campbell joined UGA’s sterling class in Athens, and one-time strong UT lean Eddie Smith picked Alabama. Oh, and Palmer going to NC State hurt, too.

Tennessee wound up signing some potentially good players on Wednesday, but the Vols missed on every single big name.

I’m no expert on reading body language, but Pruitt did not seem to be very happy at his post-NSD press conference. After all, this is a man who has been at Alabama, Georgia and FSU and won some major recruiting battles. He, along with UGA coach Kirby Smart, are arguably the top two recruiting assistants of the past decade.

He isn’t used to days like this.

But, the sad truth of the matter, Vols fans, is this: He ain’t in Tuscaloosa anymore.

We all look at our proud football program as the national powerhouse of old, but it isn’t that, anymore. Not right now. It can be again, but the sobering reality is that we’re coming off a 4-8 season that marked the first time in program history with eight losses and also the first time ever where the Vols failed to win a conference game.

Even in the best of years in the Butch Jones regime, UT went 9-4. Following his debacle of a final year that was rife with negativity, Tennessee went through a very public, very embarrassing coaching search where Greg Schiano was forced into our face, a rebellion ensued, an athletic director was fired, and they could have sold “Honk if you turned down Tennessee” bumper stickers in the coaching community.

Yes, we look like we came out better for it all with Phillip Fulmer as the athletic director, and a real football guy in Pruitt as the head coach. He built a quality staff of assistant coaches with rich pedigrees in recruiting, Southeast ties and player development.

For whatever reason, though, that didn’t translate with signatures Wednesday. There was some impressive immediate success as the Vols loaded up with one of the most noteworthy early signing periods, adding a slew of quality players back in December.

But the backstretch wasn’t kind to Pruitt.

He went back to Alabama to coach the Crimson Tide to the national championship, and though he didn’t lose any real recruiting time, there was a bit of a scramble mode in the way things were handled down the stretch. Perhaps it’s a lesson learned, especially with the way Pruitt managed some early recruiting official visits and some of his own in-home visits. Some think he mismanaged those — such as getting Griffin and Walker in on their OVs early, allowing the Tennessee shine to wear off and others to swoop in.

Also, it can be argued that perhaps Pruitt swung too vigorously at the top-shelf prospects. After all, these are the nation’s elite, and programs have been building relationships with them for years. Pruitt tried to come in and build a rapport in a matter of weeks. But, again, what do you do? Put all your efforts toward lesser players? As you already know, I like the aggressive style, but it just didn’t pay off this time around.

Everything is magnified when you have a day like the Vols did Wednesday, one that will go down as one of the all-time clunkers in the modern era of UT recruiting. The recruiting class wound up fine, but the Vols far from stuck the landing, to say the least.

Make no mistake, again: This is a good class. Pruitt DID do a good job. He inherited a class ranked in the 60s, and the Vols are currently 20th on the 247Sports Composite rankings and 20th in Rivals. That’s only good enough for eighth in the rugged SEC, and it pales in comparison to the monstrous class Georgia put together that rivals any single haul ever assembled. But with all the turmoil, maybe a top-20 class is all we should have expected.

That’s not what the grumbles are for. The majority of rational Vols recruiting followers are glad to have the players who signed, they’re OK with a top-20 class and can find positives in the lessons we learned from Pruitt’s brief-but-aggressive first few months trying to sway players and be excited about how that will translate when this staff has a full recruiting cycle to build relationships.

Instead, we’re all mad because of what might have been. Pruitt hamstrung himself by expanding the board, getting all our hopes up with visits from the nation’s top players and then failing to land any of them on Wednesday.

What we’ve got to remember, though, in evaluating this product is that we need to look at the whole class and not just the ending of it. Is it really “failing” to land a lot of guys you never had a chance at all until the new coach brought them in, or was it wishful thinking to get any of them in the first place?

So, before you go off spouting about “Pruitt can’t close,” remember that there were a lot of factors out of his control this year that contributed to Wednesday’s debacle. Could he have done some things differently? Sure. But there are also a lot of good players in this 2018 class who wouldn’t be in it if not for Pruitt and Co.

So, it’s possible to celebrate the class while calling Wednesday what it was: a Rocky Thud.

With a staff with this recruiting resume, though, better days are ahead, on the field and in the living rooms.

The Jeremy Pruitt Project: Lessons Learned Heading into National Signing Day

As we wind down below a week until National Signing Day, this is the most clueless I’ve ever been on how Tennessee is going to finish its 2018 recruiting class.

There are so many names on the board, and while the recent rumor mill hasn’t been very kind to the Vols and head coach Jeremy Pruitt regarding top targets such as Olaijah Griffin, Eddie Smith, Isaac Taylor-Stuart, Coynis Miller, Jacob Copeland and others, UT still remains players for a couple of guys on that list. Several other possibilities remain as well, as it looks like Tennessee winds up with a class of 22-23, depending on how things shake out.

While we may not know how things are going to finish, we’ve found out a handful of things about Pruitt and his coaching staff in the brief time they’ve been able to hit the road and convince kids to visit Knoxville.

Let’s take a look at what we know.

These guys swing for the fences

When Pruitt stood in front of Tennessee media, boosters, fans and everyone else in his introductory press conference, he advised Vols fans to worry about the prospects they get and not the ones they don’t.

That wasn’t setting his staff up for failure or preparing the fan base to absorb the loss of former 5-star offensive line commit Cade Mays. Instead, this was more about the MAJOR names that he had to feel confident he could get to listen and — based on the small amount of time they’ve had to build relationships — the relatively low hit rate on big fish.

Pruitt has been at Alabama, Georgia and Florida State. That’s three of the most elite recruiting schools in the country, and while Tennessee may be a tier below that, the Vols are coming off their worst season in school history, a debacle that saw them go 0-8 in the conference. On top of that, there was a very hairy coaching search that carried with it some bad publicity.

All of that is in the rear-view mirror, however. And while a lot of the top kids in the country may not want to play for Tennessee in this cycle, Pruitt is going to give them an opportunity to. That bodes well for the future.

Case in point: Elite 5-star cornerback Tyson Campbell hadn’t sniffed UT in his heated recruitment. But once Pruitt and Co. visited him in his Fort Lauderdale, Florida home a week ago, it resulted in an official visit last weekend. The same goes for 4-star defensive tackle and Campbell’s teammate Nesta Silvera. Will either of those guys commit to the Vols? That’s doubtful considering their short-term relationship with the staff, but UT gave itself a puncher’s chance by getting them on campus.

Pruitt has been able to land elite linebacker JJ Peterson because of his prior relationship, and the Vols are right in the thick of it for 4-star linebacker Quay Walker, Griffin, Taylor-Stuart, Copeland and plenty more top-level prospects who weren’t even on the radar under the Butch Jones regime.

Let’s say UT winds up with two more 4-star prospects. If you add those to guys like Peterson, tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson, offensive guard Jerome Carvin and running back Jeremy Banks, this has been a very successful late-cycle haul for Pruitt. His swing-for-the-fences mentality will produce plenty of future “hits,” but we can’t get caught up in the ones who don’t come. To be on their radar is an accomplishment (though that won’t win you any games.)

They’re excellent talent evaluators

The Jordan Young story may wind up being one that is told for years around Tennessee. How in the world did a 6’2″, 185-pound athletic wide receiver who had 17 touchdowns as a senior and won a state championship in track not have any major scholarships? Especially when this kid lives in an Atlanta suburb?

Mind-boggling.

Regardless, Pruitt and Co. found him, brought him in, offered him, and now he’ll commit to Tennessee barring any last-second change of heart. Florida State is still trying to get him to visit to flip him, but Young seems firm with the Vols. That isn’t the only diamond-in-the-dirt the Vols have pursued, either.

In the end, they may pay a penalty for finding some of these guys as they choose to go elsewhere.

It’s hard to claim Tennessee “found” Eddie Smith, but he didn’t have a ton of SEC offers and committed early to TCU before decommitting. He had a relationship with Pruitt, and the Vols were long thought to be the favorite, but now he looks bound for Alabama after the Crimson Tide offered.

Taiyon Palmer is a defensive back from Lawrenceville, Georgia, who was committed to Duke for a while, but the Vols offered, brought him in for a visit and now may land him. He’s received offers from Alabama, Nebraska, Clemson and others recently, and a lot of those came after UT expressed interest.

Safety Trevon Flowers was committed to Kentucky to play baseball, and he’s been trying to wriggle free of that situation to visit Tennessee to play football the past two weekends. Clemson offered him this week, and now the Tigers may be a threat.

The list goes on and on. This staff has evaluated some very good players who are winding up with healthy offer sheets. While that doesn’t matter if the Vols finish as the bridesmaid in the quest to get their signatures, it has resulted in Young committing. Also, it makes you feel better about unheralded defensive tackle signee Kingston Harris and cornerback Brandon Davis, who committed this week after favoring South Alabama.

They’ll make you tell them no

The Vols may be coming off a winless SEC slate, but they’re going through the Victoria’s Secret magazine and asking out every gal in the book. If they tell you no, hey, at least you tried, right?

Miller reaffirmed his pledge to Auburn while standing in the airport after just leaving his official visit in Knoxville. Oh well. Next.

Campbell, Taylor-Stuart and Griffin all have (or will) visit. They’ve been hotly pursued as if they’ve been considering Tennessee for months. Walker is a long-time Alabama commit who was once considered a lock to flip to Georgia, but UT is right in the thick of his signature.

Safety Jordan Moore is a long shot who looks destined for Texas or Texas A&M, but Tennessee visited him several times and made him tell them no. He did.

But Wood-Anderson didn’t. Peterson didn’t. JT Shrout — who was committed to Cal for months — didn’t, and UT now has its quarterback. The list goes on and on.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

They aren’t afraid to go anywhere and everywhere

One thing that was frustrating about Jones’ recruiting efforts — though he was pretty successful on the trail during his tenure at Tennessee — was his failure to sell UT as a national brand.

When Phillip Fulmer was having all his success, UT would go into California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey — wherever — and pull a kid or two every year. The Vols went where the stars were.

In the past couple of seasons, Jones and Co. had rather fill up on marginal 3-star prospects from Florida and Georgia than rub elbows with other players elsewhere. There’s nothing wrong with that if you develop them, but he didn’t.

The Vols have been adamant about having a major presence in California, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to be a one-year thing. They’re one of the top two for Griffin, getting a visit from Taylor-Stuart and pulled Shrout from that state. They’ve already offered a ton of 2019 kids from the Golden State, too. Wood-Anderson came from Arizona. The Vols look like they’re right at the top of the list for Texas defensive tackle Otito Ogbonnia. They’ve got a commitment from JUCO offensive tackle Jahmir Johnson from Philly.

They’ve kicked the tires on Florida prospects like Copeland and Campbell, and they’re trying to have a presence in Alabama with guys like Malik Langham as well as in Georgia, where they plucked Peterson and are chasing Walker and a bunch of DBs. All the while, UT grabbed a couple of major victories in an area they don’t traditionally own, getting Carvin and Banks out of Memphis.

Getting wide receivers coach David Johnson from Mike Norvell’s Tigers will probably help UT in the Bluff City in the future as well.

***

So, what does all this mean about the ’18 finish?

It’s hard to say. Maybe Tennessee winds up with a monstrous finish, getting two or three of the big-name prospects they’re in the thick of things with and adding a couple more 3-star players who would be big wins such as Ogbonnia or maybe John Mincey or Palmer.

That type of finish would be good enough to put Tennessee in the 15-18 range in final rankings, which would be nothing short of remarkable considering the Vols were in the 60s when Jones was fired.

Pruitt and Co. have focused the majority of their attention on program-changing players. Yes, UT needs bodies, and the Vols may wind up taking a few reaches to fill spots, but don’t look for them to just flesh out the class with warm bodies. They’ll save those spots for graduate transfers or a bigger class next season. In the future, Pruitt and his staff will be able to build relationships with kids who will wind up being fallback plans that will help hedge the bets if the big boys don’t head to Rocky Top.

We don’t have that benefit this season. So, just sit back and enjoy the finish. Don’t get too caught up over the huge names we’re in it for who wind up heading elsewhere. Instead, marvel at what Pruitt has been able to do in such a short time especially in the wake of the rocky postseason, and hope that translates positively for the future.

If this staff wins games, they’ll be able to recruit with anybody in the nation because this staff is elite in its ability to convince and build relationships with players. Hopefully for UT, it’ll pay off in some big commits this Wednesday.

Vols Get Pledge from 3-Star Cornerback Brandon Davis

New Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt is swinging for the fences on several elite, playmaking athletes as the days tick off toward national signing day.

But, due to the Vols needing depth at key positions, they’re having to make sure they’ve got some high-upside players filling the class as well. That’s where Louisiana defensive back Brandon Davis comes in.

The John Curtis High School product is perhaps the least-recruited prospect in UT’s class thus far, but the Vols thought enough of him to take a commitment from him on Monday. The 3-star cornerback had offers from teams such as South Alabama, Colorado State, Nicholls State, Louisiana-Monroe and Liberty.

 

No, that isn’t exactly a murderer’s row of college powerhouses. But he pops on film despite being undersized at 5’11”, 160 pounds, and he’s a two-sport athlete who could wind up in the MLB Draft rather than on the college gridiron.

Is it possible UT got a steal from a guy who is the No. 1,728-ranked player in the nation, according to 247Sports? He told GoVols247’s Ryan Callahan that UT coaches told him they see him as being a Tyrann Mathieu-type prospect who can roam all over the field, play a lot of spots and be a versatile playmaker.

So, why didn’t other teams feel the same way? Davis told Callahan he believes there’s a viable reason.

“The reason why is because I didn’t go to any camps and because of baseball,” he said. “I play (two) sports, so it was kind of hard for me. But the film’s not going to lie.”

The Vols have some huge fish left in this class, hoping to land guys like Olaijah Griffin, Quay Walker, Jacob Copeland, Tyson Campbell, John Mincey, Eddie Smith and others, but there is another prospect considering UT who may give the Vols a harder look with Davis in the fold. He’s a teammates of star defensive end/tight end Glenn Beal, who is considering Texas A&M and could also wind up at LSU if the Tigers offer.

If the Vols could get Beal, it would make the Davis pickup even better.

There are still a lot of factors remaining in Davis’ recruitment. Could he get drafted high and wind up in the minor leagues? Is he a potential blueshirt candidate at UT? Will he be a guy who comes right in and plays? Whatever the case, Davis is a guy who’s expected to be in Tennessee’s class.

This is the second commitment in two weeks for UT, who landed 4-star receiver Jordan Young last week; another late-riser who will wind up one of the Vols’ highest-ranked commitments in the class. Davis won’t, but that doesn’t mean he’s a player who won’t wind up competing.

After all, some of the defensive back pledges under the last coaching regime — guys like Brandon Cross and Tanner Ingle — weren’t highly recruited, either.

That leaves about 6-7 spots in this class with a lot of guys remaining on the board. How will the Vols finish? Right now, it’s about as up-in-the-air as any class in recent memory.

“Diamond in the Dirt” Jordan Young is a Vol

 

Three days ago, Jordan Young was a barely-known, unranked wide receiver who was toiling in obscurity in broad daylight. At 6’2″, 185 pounds, he certainly had the size, played in the Atlanta suburb of Conyers, Georgia, scored 17 touchdowns as a senior for Heritage High School and also was a Class AAAAAA state champion in the 110-meter hurdles.

So, how was Young coveted so minimally by the who’s-who of college football?

The loss of everybody else in the nation was Tennessee’s gain as coach Jeremy Pruitt, lead recruiter Tracy Rocker, offensive coordinator Tyson Helton and Co., found out about Young and hosted him on a visit to UT last weekend.

He committed Friday via his Twitter account.

Honestly, his name was “just another name on the list,” hardly thought of behind studs like Quay Walker. But he came to Knoxville, loved what he saw, and his film got out.

In no time, he went from being unranked and not even having a profile page to a 4-star prospect and the No. 190-ranked prospect in the country according to 247Sports. When he committed to the Vols on Friday, Rivals gave him 3 stars. After Young didn’t play the camp circuit, he was going to slide under the radar.

But Tennessee found him and got a commitment from him. Now, Ohio State, Miami, Florida State, Auburn and others are beating down Young’s door, trying to get him to visit. The Vols will have to hold off some of the top teams in the country for his signature, but it’s obvious Young is smitten with Tennessee.

And that’s big news for the Vols.

He runs a 4.43, high-points balls like nobody’s business on his film and has all the measurables you could want from a receiver recruit. Given UT’s massive need for impact players at his position and the Vols’ position with Jacob Copeland and uncertainty with Geordon Porter, it’s a major pickup for UT.

He will team with Alontae Taylor to give the Vols a formidable duo at a position of need.

How good could Young be? Barton Simmons — 247Sports’ director of scouting — was so blown away by his film, he ranked him that highly based off it. He told GoVols247’s Ryan Callahan that Young could be a “game-changing” pickup and that he has a 5-star ceiling and could have been higher had the service had ample time to evaluate him.

That’s some lofty praise from somebody who doesn’t hand out candy like gum from the church lady.

He told Callahan earlier in the week that Helton told him UT believed he was a diamond in the dirt.

This late in the game, the Vols are taking some major swings with Pruitt at the helm. They’re trying for 4- and 5-star guys and high-ceiling prospects who maybe don’t have the ratings or the offer sheets of some others. Needing to fill out the class with 6-7 more players and needing instant-impact players everywhere, that’s why Pruitt is going big. But, if they don’t pan out, he wants some developmental guys next.

Young is one of those rare late finds who could wind up being one of the stars of the class. That’s how big this commitment is. Now, hopefully, Tennessee can fend off some of the sport’s biggest and best programs to keep him in the fold.

Vols tab Memphis’ David Johnson as new WR coach

 

According to VolQuest.com’s Austin Price, Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt has filled the final vacancy on his coaching staff, choosing Memphis wide receivers coach David Johnson to coach the same position at UT.

This is a big-time hire that should send shockwaves through the recruiting world and resonate with players already on the team. Pruitt interviewed former Florida State receivers coach Lawrence Dawsey, North Carolina State running backs coach Des Kitchings and JUCO head coach Joe Osovet, but elected to go with Johnson.

The former Louisiana high school head football coach has ties in that state and has proven to be a strong recruiter for Mike Norvell and the Tigers. He also has developed ties in the Bluff City in his time at Memphis. He spent time at Tulane before coming to Memphis and, prior to that, coached Tyrann Mathieu at St. Augustine High School.

Last year, LSU coach Ed Orgeron contacted Johnson for a job with the Tigers, and he turned it down, telling the Commercial Appeal‘s Tom Schad: “I just think Memphis is the best place for me right now, for me and my family,” Johnson said, citing Norvell as a key.

That speaks volumes about Johnson’s ability to teach, mold and convince prospects. Orgeron has long been known for his recruiting acumen. According to that article, it was a massive coup for the Tigers to keep him around.

“Johnson is arguably one of the most valuable recruiters on Norvell’s staff and played a pivotal role in attracting wide receivers Damonte Coxie and John “Pop” Williams, defensive lineman Jonathan Wilson and linebacker Nehemiah Augustus to Memphis, among others,” Schad wrote.

While at Tulane, Johnson coached and helped develop running back (and Tennessee product) Orleans Darkwa, who is now in the NFL. Since coming over to the Tigers, he’s been a dynamic recruiter and helped develop a dynamic passing game, led by senior Anthony Miller.

Miller came to Memphis as an unheralded prospect, and he’ll leave as a sure-fire NFL prospect. This season, Miller wound up with 96 catches for 1,462 yards and 18 touchdowns as Riley Ferguson’s primary target. He wasn’t the only exceptional performer, though.

Tony Pollard had 36 grabs for 536 yards and four touchdowns, Phil Mayhue had 35 catches for 521 yards and three touchdowns, and Damonte Coxie had 21 catches for 323 yards and three touchdowns.

That’s a massive need for the Vols, who have struggled for years developing receivers. The days of “Wide Receiver U” seemed long in the past during the Butch Jones era. After Derek Dooley’s tenure saw Justin Hunter, Cordarrelle Patterson and Da’Rick Rogers put up big numbers, Jones couldn’t have any pass-catchers break through until 2016 when junior Josh Malone had a big year.

This season, it was more of the same after Jauan Jennings went down in the opening game against Georgia Tech. Though Marquez Callaway and Brandon Johnson showed signs, the lack of quality quarterback play doomed UT. Also, it didn’t help that Jones made two awful hires in offensive coordinator Larry Scott and wide receivers coach Kevin Beard.

Johnson appears to be the opposite of that, and it’s going to be difficult to find anybody to poke holes in this hire. Pruitt’s top target was South Carolina’s Bryan McClendon, who Will Muschamp kept on in Columbia as the Gamecocks’ offensive coordinator, but once McClendon stayed, the search opened.

It yielded Johnson, and with UT looking to throw the ball more downfield in a Tyson Helton offense, hopefully it will wind up being a big hire for the Vols, on the field and in the living rooms.

 

 

Here’s some video of the Vols’ new coach mic’d up.

Tennessee Vols Get Monstrous Recruiting Puzzle Piece in JJ Peterson

 

If you watched Tennessee play football in 2017 and you then watched Alabama’s performance in the College Football Playoff semifinal trouncing of Clemson, you know the Vols have a long way to go to get to that level.

But it’s a strong first step that UA’s defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt will be leaving to become Tennessee’s head coach, and the staff he’s built in Knoxville proves he’s serious about bringing a top-tier defense.

Now, all he needs are the players.

UT got one of those players on Saturday afternoon when 4-star outside linebacker JJ Peterson chose Tennessee over a host of other top schools — including long-time leader Alabama — during the U.S. Army All-America Game.

“Peterson is a really athletic, versatile linebacker, the type of player Tennessee is going to need to run the kind of defense Jeremy Pruitt wants to run,” GoVols247 recruiting analyst Ryan Callahan told me earlier today. “He’s capable of coming in and starting right away, or at least playing a significant role from Day One.

“It’s a huge pickup, to say the least, for Pruitt and his staff. And it’s the best example yet of the types of relationships Pruitt can build and the big-time recruiting battles he’s capable of winning. Peterson hasn’t even been to Tennessee’s campus yet, and the Vols just beat out Alabama to land him less than a month after Pruitt’s hiring. That’s the kind of addition that really sends a message.”

With Pruitt’s deep ties in Alabama and Georgia, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see UT starting pulling kids of Peterson’s ilk every year from those areas. It doesn’t hurt that the Vols’ defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer is Georgia’s linebackers coach and a dynamic recruiter. Add Charles Kelly, Chris Rumph and Tracy Rocker to the staff, and that’s a group of defensive coaches who can make a dent on the recruiting trail.

 

As for Peterson, he’s an electric athlete that has the kind of speed on the second level the Vols don’t currently possess. The 6’2″, 210-pound defender from Colquitt County (Georgia) plays for legendary coach Russ Propst and was a high school teammate of current Vols Ja’Quain Blakely and Shawn Shamburger. That’s not a bad pipeline for UT to have.

Peterson is the nation’s second-ranked outside linebacker, according to 247Sports, and he has high marks in all of his agility ratings. According to his profile, his evaluation is as follows:

“When you watch Peterson, he is a blur at times between the lines. He is an outside linebacker you see make plays in space, get to the quarterback off the edge, and one that can drop into coverage and hold his own. He plays with aggression, effort and speed at all times. He has great size and he explodes through the ball carrier when he makes the tackle. He has all the traits you look for in an elite linebacker. He could play outside or inside on the next level.”

That’s huge news for a Tennessee team desperately needing playmakers to pair with studs on the defense like Nigel Warrior and Darrin Kirkland Jr., who’ve been under-coached during the Butch Jones era. The Vols lost one of those this week when Rashaan Gaulden elected to forego his senior season in orange for a shot at the NFL.

Peterson, as Callahan said, possesses the ability to start or at least contribute right away. If UT transitions to a 3-4 base package, as expected, it will need all the linebackers it can get. Guys like a healthy Kirkland will certainly be on the field. Others such as Daniel Bituli, Will Ignont, Solon Page III, Quart’e Sapp, Austin Smith, recent JUCO signee Jordan Allen, and Shanon Reid give the Vols depth at the position, but only Kirkland and Bituli are proven commodities.

Peterson is an athlete who will be difficult to keep from the field. His pledge surges UT to 16th nationally and fifth in the SEC, according to 247Sports. That’s not bad considering the Vols were in the 60s when Pruitt came on board.

This coup is the biggest of the 2018 cycle, surpassing Alontae Taylor and Dominick Wood-Anderson. DWA also had UA out front until Pruitt swept in and stole him on JUCO national signing day, so that’s two major pieces of the puzzle who are expected to step right in and contribute immediately.

Peterson’s pledge is a sign of things to come, and if the Vols can add players like Peterson’s good buddy and current Alabama commitment Quay Walker, stud cornerback Olaijah Griffin and others, this may not be such a stretch to think Tennessee could be much-improved on the defensive side of the ball in 2018.

Vols Find Strength & Conditioning Coach in Houston Texans’ Craig Fitzgerald

New Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt has found the man he expects will prepare the Vols to morph into a bigger, more physical SEC program. On Friday, the Houston Chronicle reported that Craig Fitzgerald resigned from his post with the NFL franchise in order to come back to college and lead the Vols.

Fitzgerald replaces Rock Gullickson, another long-time, respected NFL strength coordinator who was hired by coach Butch Jones and left with the entire staff besides Robert Gillespie. Fitzgerald has that blend of being a young, energetic guy while also being a veteran with as good a resume as Tennessee could hope.

A friend of mine works in the Texans’ front office, and he had this to say of Fitzgerald:

“Super good dude. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him. I guess I’ll just have to hope our next guy is as cool. From a football perspective, I think it would be hard to find a guy with much better of resume. I don’t know a whole lot about the options that are out there, but it’s hard to be disappointed with a guy that has experience at several power five schools (including the SEC) on top of four years with an NFL team.”

This seems like a coup on the surface for the Vols. Fitzgerald was with Bill O’Brien during a successful run at Penn State before following him to the NFL. He was also the South Carolina Gamecocks’ S&C coordinator under Steve Spurrier for three years.

Here’s a video with Fitzgerald talking about some of his methods. This Men’s Health article sheds a little more light on Fitzgerald, who is widely respected in his profession. Buddy Zach Ragan over TennTruth has some quality info on Fitzgerald, too.

This is perhaps the most important low-profile job UT can possibly fill, so it’s essential that Fitzgerald is a home run, and in scouring the Interwebs, I haven’t found one negative thing about it. Under Jones’ regime, the strength and conditioning program was in shambles, and Butch’s botching of that position arguably escalated his demise.

Jones brought Dave Lawson with him from Cincinnati, and though Lawson was unheralded, the Vols seemed to be turning a corner under him after Derek Dooley’s revolving door of S&C coordinators did UT no favors, either. When Lawson and some players and coaches butted heads, Jones removed him and gave the job to associate coordinator Michael Szerszen, which was a complete disaster.

Following Szerszen’s disastrous year, Gullickson was brought in — but you can’t fix strength issues in one year, and the Vols had their share of them. Obviously, Jones’ philosophy was flawed when it comes to the type of body molding he wanted, because Tennessee routinely got pushed around on both lines of scrimmage during the regimes of both Jones and Dooley. Also, as injuries piled up the past two seasons, it became clear there were physical issues.

Now, the Vols turn to Fitzgerald as they hope to rebuild their roster to transition to a 3-4 defense, a pro-style, man-blocking scheme on offense and, most importantly, a quality, capable team that can actually compete in the SEC.

Fitzgerald has his work cut out for him.

Arkansas 95, Tennessee 93 (OT): The Art of Closing

 

A huge part of being a great basketball team is overcoming adversity, and that’s the simple reason why this Tennessee team has to settle for “very good” right now.

It’s going to take a major breakthrough for the Vols to take that next, logical leap.

One of the best, deepest UT teams in the past few years — and easily the best so far under Rick Barnes — again built and held a big, late lead against a quality opponent on Saturday. But just like in previous losses to No. 1 Villanova and top program North Carolina, the Vols squandered it down the stretch against a very good Arkansas team in Fayetteville.

What transpired was the Vols blowing a nine-point advantage with 3:30 to go, and after the game went into overtime, the Razorbacks broke things open for an 11-point advantage before UT stormed back to fall just short, 95-93.

Yes, Tennessee was a six-point underdog against a 10-2 Hogs team on the road, so the Vols weren’t necessarily “supposed” to win this game, despite being ranked 19th. But, as the game transpired and played out, the Vols were supposed to win. They were the better team, more disciplined, deeper, and they were in control for essentially the entire time.

But Barnes’ bunch couldn’t bring it home. Again.

The Hogs’ 40 minutes and 94 feet of hell finally got to Tennessee, which couldn’t keep its composure against the press down the stretch. Things built upon themselves, Arkansas began to believe it could come back, and everything snowballed on the Vols.

It didn’t help matters that UT leading scorer Grant Williams was saddled with foul trouble for important stretches and was called for a ticky-tack foul that replays showed was a clean block. Therefore, the Vols didn’t have him down the final stretch of the game or in overtime. It showed. Then, early in the extra session, Admiral Schofield fouled out, leaving the Vols too small to play their game.

That’s not only two key cogs in the size of the frontcourt, it’s also two of the three biggest offensive pieces of the puzzle for Barnes. This was some serious adversity, but getting the calls on the road is rarely going to happen. UT needed to overcome that, and it couldn’t.

An ill-advised, missed Tennessee 3-pointer late started the Arkansas flurry, and UT failed to hit some crucial free throws down the stretch. Jordan Bowden missing two of three free throws when he was fouled taking a 3-pointer, and Jordan Bone missing the first of two free throws in regulation with the Vols down one that could have kept the game from going into overtime were pivotal, crucial blunders.

We can crow about the one-sided officiating — which seems to be the norm when Doug Shows is on the whistle — but there was other business the Vols should have taken care of that it could control. Instead, Tennessee falls to 9-3 and 0-1 in a rugged SEC that is going to be hard to navigate all season. Games like this, the Vols desperately need to win, and this is one that is going to sting for a while.

Right now, Tennessee certainly looks like an NCAA Tournament team; we all know that. But there is a lot of basketball season left to play, so when you have opportunities like this one on the road in the palm of your hand and you let it slip away? It has major implications and ramifications in the long run. Now, the Vols must head home to take on another very good conference foe in Auburn.

Just how tough is Tennessee’s early-season conference slate? After the home game against the Tigers, the Vols host Kentucky. Then, they have to travel to the biggest joke of a basketball court in all of college sports to take on Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium, and that’s always a difficult game. The Vols then host fifth-ranked Texas A&M, travel to Missouri and then go to South Carolina, a Final Four team from a season ago.

That’s a brutal stretch.

So, when you look at the upcoming stretch of games, a sure-fire tournament team can go to an afterthought in a hurry. That’s why Saturday hurts so much; the Vols should have won this game in Fayetteville. Say what you want about the foul calls or the one-sidedness or how much a team is hamstrung when it doesn’t have its leading scorer. All of that is accurate.

But that’s why Barnes gets paid the big bucks, and that’s why the Vols have to overcome.

Remember when I said this was the best and deepest Tennessee team the Vols have had in a while? It’s also one of the youngest, and that’s been evidenced by the way UT played at times down the stretch against other, quality opponents.

This is a team that can play its way and impose its will on teams for large swaths of the game, but if it doesn’t close out those wins, it doesn’t matter.

Williams picking up his fourth foul with 3:33 to go and getting another one that sent him to the pine with 2:10 left is ridiculous. But it’s basketball; and Tennessee still held its own destiny in its hands.

As stifling as Tennessee’s defense has been at times this season, it crumbled down the stretch against the Hogs. UT’s point guard play was much-improved than what it’s been with Bone and James Daniel, but the defense was lax. Arkansas’ guards Daryl Macon and Jaylen Barford played like the senior combo they are, combining for 60 points in the win.

That’s too much for Tennessee to allow.

So, this was an awfully difficult loss to stomach, and it’s one that could sting more later. There’s no reason to hit the panic button, and there’s no reason to be worried about the long-term ramifications, but this is now three games against excellent competition that could have been three Tennessee wins. At the very worst, the Vols should be 1-2 against ‘Nova, UNC and the Hogs. Instead, they’re 0-3.

This needs to be a teaching moment and a hard lesson, but UT can regroup and return. This team needs Williams on the court and it needs to find a formula that works down the stretch. If those two things don’t happen, the rest of this season may not play out the way we’d hoped.

Tennessee Junior Running Back John Kelly Declares for NFL Draft

Under new head coach Jeremy Pruitt, getting Tennessee back to relevance is going to be an arduous rebuilding project, and 2018 will be a fresh start.

There’s going to be a little more newness after Friday’s news.

Junior running back John Kelly announced on his Instagram that he is foregoing his final season in orange and white and turning pro. It’s unclear where — or if — Kelly will get drafted, but this is a big blow to UT’s offense, especially considering a more pro-style approach seems to suit Kelly’s running style a lot better than the unfolding lawn chair offense under Butch Jones.

Against top competition early in the season, Kelly was at his best in his first season out of the shadow of Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara. As the season wore on and injuries piled up on the offensive line, the Vols went away from featuring Kelly. He wound up with 778 yards on the ground and a 4.1 rushing average to go along with nine touchdowns. He also had 37 catches for 299 yards.

Kelly can do it all. Though that rushing average isn’t pretty, it’s not indicative of the type of player he is. He is a beast with the football who can wear down defenses. Though this isn’t the smartest decision — in my opinion — somebody in the NFL is going to get a late-round war horse. Kelly hasn’t ever suffered a major injury, he’s still got fresh legs and his best days are in front of him.

With Kelly heading out, that means rising sophomore Ty Chandler will see an increased load of carries. He ran for 305 yards on a 4.3 average in his first year, and has game-breaking ability. Tim Jordan, Carlin Fils-Aime and Trey Coleman are other running backs on the roster who could wind up getting carries.

The Vols recently signed Memphis (Cordova HS) power back Jeremy Banks, and he seems to have a good opportunity to step right in and be a significant part of this offense. Though Georgia prep runner Anthony Grant is currently committed, he’s looking around, so it’s possible UT could sign another back. The Vols will likely look to do so.

One player Pruitt already has offered is 4-star recruit and Oklahoma commitment Tavion Thomas, from Dayton, Ohio, who didn’t sign during the early period. He would fit the mold of a power back who can step in with Banks and provide some rugged runs to go along with the finesse of Jordan and Fils-Aime and the complete-back style of Chandler.

It’s a big blow to the Vols to lose Kelly; but here’s wishing him the best in the NFL. He was a great player in Knoxville.