Category Archives: Football

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.

Three products not even Peyton Manning could sell

I just finished writing the Vols link roundup for today and for some strange reason, I have this intense desire to find a Courtyard Marriott in Orlando and spend a few days at Universal waving magic wands.

I blame Peyton Manning.

Yeah, Tennessee’s favorite son makes everything more appealing. I’m just afraid he’s going to show up in my feed making jokes about kale smoothies and then I’m going to have to try one.

Which makes me wonder.

What are three products that even Peyton Manning couldn’t sell?

Just off the top of my head here:

1. Fish jerky

No. Just, no.

My wife and I went to Hawaii on our honeymoon a long, long time ago. We awoke to the salt in the air, the breeze in our hair, and the sound of the waves crashing on the beach in our ears. We enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes with coconut syrup and fresh-squeezed guava juice that we still talk about nearly 25 years later.

The day went downhill from there. We decided to drive completely around whichever island we were on at the time, and the hairpin-after-hairpin endeavor had me sick as vomit by noon when we finally got to the top and found a little shack that had some food. I basically just got out of the car and tried in vain to make the world stand still while my wife ventured into the rickety old store for something to eat. She came out with some canned guava juice (not the same thing as fresh-squeezed, it turns out) and a package of fish jerky.

When we got back in the car and started back down the mountain, she opened the bag. Suddenly, everything smelled like we’d been marinating in rotted fish guts for a week. She held some chum out to me, and I not-so-politely declined, but she completely ignored the code red coming from her sense of smell and popped a piece into her mouth like it was nothing to fear.

For nearly quarter of a century, this moment has remained the best evidence that I am in fact smarter than she is. Also, that she is destined to die of curiousity long before me.

That fish jerky was not in her mouth for long, and it wasn’t in our car for much longer. If we could have tossed it to the next island, we would have. The smell, though, I am convinced, remains in the rental car to this day. I’m guessing they had to retire that one and write “No fish jerky” into all of their contracts after that.

So, if Peyton Manning showed up at my doorstep trying to sell me fish jerky, I would first say, “Hey, it’s Peyton Manning,” and then I would beat him with an iron pipe.

2. Lasagna

This is just me. It’s a long story, and I wrote about it for a freshman comp class at Belmont many years ago. This story doesn’t begin, “Once upon a time,” but like this:

I never really liked lasagna in the first place.  Initially, I thought that someone was conducting an autopsy in the church’s fellowship hall.  There were rows and rows of steel pans, each containing steaming layers of thick, wet noodles that reminded me of folded flaps of dead skin.  In between each layer were little white specks of cheese being pushed out of their hiding places by bubbling rivers of tomato sauce.  The same sauce was splattered all over the top of the evil pie, but the soggy chunks of over-ripe tomatoes were more visible, more repulsive.  The lasagna simply did not look good.  But I was hungry, and the only chance I had to get control of my current headache was to eat.  So I slapped a heaping spoonful of it on my plate, found my seat, and choked down every last bite.

That story doesn’t end well, either, with me puking into a plastic grocery bag in the front seat of some stranger’s new car on the way to the hospital and me subsequently dropping out of school, but I’ll spare you the details.

Suffice it to say that lasagna is from the devil. Even if Peyton Manning is the delivery boy.

3. Is this a joke?

I don’t know if I actually believe that this is actually a real product, but even the mere idea of squeeze bacon is about as wrong as you can get.

Bacon has to win the award for the food product with the highest variance. If it’s crispy, it’s . . . well, I don’t even have words to describe just how perfect a perfectly crispy slice of perfect bacon tastes. You’ve had one. You know.

But contrary to popular opinion, you can actually ruin bacon, and ruined bacon is the worst of the worst. Just about every fast food place gets this wrong by taking a perfectly good piece of bacon and barely warming it in the microwave before slapping it on some breakfast sandwich. It’s limp. Stringy. Practically still oinking.

It’s nasty, is what I’m saying.

The only thing I can think of that would be worse is making it into a puree, which appears to be what the good folks of Vilhelm Lilleflosk’s have done. For this, they deserve enough jail time to fully consider their offense against society. You don’t do that to bacon.

I mean, go look at that picture again. If I saw that in the wild, my first thought would be, “I think your dog has an ulcer.”

So, no. Not even Peyton Manning can make that look appealing.

What about you? What are three things not even Peyton Manning could sell you?

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.

January 19th Weekend Preview

After a very successful first official visit weekend after the dead period, Tennessee is set to open its doors again this weekend to an eclectic set of visitors.  At the same time, many of the Volunteers’ top targets will be officially visiting elsewhere, so there will be tons to follow:

ATH Anthony Grant will be taking his official visit to Knoxville as a very soft commitment.  Back in December I made a case for why he should be a priority for the staff and while they haven’t gone balls to the wall with him, and don’t seem to know where he would play, they have obviously made it clear they want him.  He has OV’d to Virginia Tech in December and UNC this past weekend, and both are recruiting him very hard.  It’s good news to me that he’ll be on campus: he’ll get to meet the coaches and both sides can size each other up.  I think in the end he won’t be the 2nd RB in this class – if he does end up a Vol my guess is he starts out in the secondary and C’Bo Flemister continues to be an option at RB depending on needs/options at other positions

S Nikko Hall from California has moved his visit up to this weekend after a visit from Terry Fair this week.  Hall is an interesting player in that he’s a high level athlete who can play both sides of the ball but is being recruited to the defensive backfield by Tennessee.  However, his offer list doesn’t reflect his relatively high rating, as right now the other programs fighting for him include Iowa State, Illinois, and now Nebraska – an odd list for a California kid in particular.  That said, the Tennessee staff certainly seems enamored with him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they press for a commitment and he obliges while in Knoxville this weekend

ATH Tre’shaun Harrison, a former Oregon commitment, took an official visit to Utah this past weekend.  He will OV to Tennessee this coming weekend and then to Oregon and FSU (Willie Taggart, again).  He’s a 4-star player capable of playing both WR and DB, and he’s another West Coast kid who’s likely to be blown away by what he sees in Knoxville.  The interest on both sides is a bit unknown at this point, but there’s enough from Harrison to fly thousands of miles to check it out.  We’ll know more on this one after his OV is over.  Taggart used inhome on Monday of this week, so if the Vols make an impression this weekend and want to keep recruiting Harrison hard they will have that advantage over the Seminoles

DE John Mincey, who last week decommitted from Arkansas, has set his official visits to Tennessee this coming weekend, followed by South Carolina and then FSU.  However, per GoVols247, Tennessee is the team to beat going into the weekend.  Should the Vols push for a commitment they might be able to lock him down.  He’s a large young man who would likely at least initially be a SDE in the Pruitt/Sherrer defense (with the chance to grow into a player who can move inside) and is a guy who you probably take as soon as you can get him.  The status of fellow SDE prospect Malik Langham, who is scheduled to visit instate Alabama this weekend and might be leaning towards the Tide

OL Dylan Wonnum has moved his originally scheduled visit to South Carolina and scheduled a trip to Knoxville for this weekend.  His brother is at Carolina and he is definitely considered a heavy Gamecock lean, but the Vols have worked hard to get him to campus after starting from scratch and will have a chance to show him the kind of opportunity he would have with the limited numbers on the Vols OL

S Trevon Flowers is a new prospect on the board for the Vols (and just about every other program).  He signed to play shortstop for Kentucky back in December out of Tucker High School near Atlanta, meaning colleges couldn’t offer him. However, the UK baseball staff lifted that ban and he’s since received offers from Tennessee and a handful of smaller programs to this point.  The Tucker football coach was quoted as saying “He can be as good as he wants to be. We’ve got guys who have played for us here playing in the National Football League. He’s as talented as anyone we’ve coached here. The sky is the limit for him” so there’s clearly talent there.  I think right now Flowers is lower on the board than more than a handful of other defensive backs, but getting him on campus gives Pruitt and Co. another option should they need it

Eyes on Athens and Tuscaloosa

Georgia: After a bunch of twists and turns with his visit schedule, Quay Walker will officially visit Georgia this weekend instead of Alabama.  Most people think that UGA is the other major contender for Walker besides Tennessee at this point, so this visit will be keenly watched.  The other thing to keep an eye on in Athens is whether Tennessee commitment and good friend JJ Peterson comes with Walker to Athens.  Peterson is scheduled to be at Alabama this weekend, but so was Walker as of 24 hours ago, so who knows.  I think Tennessee coaches would love for Peterson to accompany Walker this weekend so he can stay in his ear about the Vols – and also, as importantly, so he wouldn’t be in Tuscaloosa – but that’s TBD at this point.  Either way, Walker is a major target for both UT and UGA and this visit could go a long way towards his final decision

Alabama: Despite signing three high level DBs in December, Alabama is still looking for more.  This weekend they will host CBs Tyson Campbell (heavy Georgia lean) and Patrick Surtain along with newly offered DB Julius Irvin.  Along with the three bigtime DBs Alabama is scheduled to have on campus this weekend, they are also scheduled to have Kelvin Joseph (soft LSU commit) , Isaac Taylor-Stuart, Eddie Smith, and a new addition to their board – Olaijah Griffin – officially visit the following weekend.

Here’s where it gets interesting.  From a numbers perspective it seems like Alabama could only take one, maybe two more DBs.  And not only did they just offer Irvin yesterday but they also offered former UGA commit Richard Wildgoose – doesn’t make you think Bama feels good about where they stand with any of their main DB targets.  But, if you assume Bama won’t strike out completely and if as a UT fan you’re thinking strategically, you’d prefer them to land either Campbell (to steal from UGA, though that would make the Dawgs bigger players for Isaac Taylor-Stuart) or even better some combo of Joseph/Surtain/Irvin/Wildgoose (with Campbell to UGA).  That would likely take Bama out of the running for all of Griffin/Smith/Taylor-Stuart, leaving Tennessee as major players and the only school with room to take all three.  Either way, a lot left to shake out with Alabama’s recruiting in the secondary, with major implications for Tennessee.

If Peterson doesn’t go to Athens that means he’s in Tuscaloosa.  The Tide were long considered his destination before Pruitt’s move to Tennessee, and they are clearly not going down without a fight.  Most think UT is in good shape here regardless, but if you’re Tennessee you’d much rather have him not take that visit to Alabama

Bama will also host major Vol DL target Malik Langham.  As noted above, some think Langham might be on commitment watch this weekend while he’s told others he will definitely take his next two visits to UF and Tennessee (both of whom just had their respective head coaches inhome, perhaps trying to convince him not to commit this weekend?). He’s one to watch in particular, as his decision (or lack thereof) could influence what Tennessee does with the aforementioned John Mincey

Other Visits to Watch

Texas will host LB/DEs Michael Williams and Caleb Okechukwu.  Williams is fresh off a great visit to Knoxville and is likely down to the Two UTs now that Texas offered on Wednesday.  He’ll likely make a decision soon after this weekend, and whether he has a spot at Tennessee remains to be seen (I’m a huge fan).  There are rumblings that he is more likely to go with Texas than with the Vols, but we’ll see.  Okechukwu’s recruitment has been pretty quiet after earning a bunch of offers with his performance at the Under-Armour game.  Where he sits on Texas’s board, or Tennessee’s board (he is set to visit Knoxville on 1/26) is unknown

Mississippi State will host CB Eddie Smith.  Smith appears to be a big Tennessee lean heading into his final two OVs to State and Alabama, and you can bet the Vol coaches will be doing everything they can to get him to go ahead and commit instead of taking either of them

Oregon will host both CB Olaijah Griffin and NG Coynis Miller.  Griffin is fresh off a very good visit to USC and then an inhome visit from Terry Fair, and the Vols and Trojans are firmly co-leaders at this point.  This seems like a recruitment that will take many twists and turns but at its core will come down to whether he wants to stay home (USC) or strike out on his own, in which at this point Tennessee would be the odds-on favorite despite any potential dalliances with schools like Alabama or Auburn, etc.  Similarly, Miller is unlikely to end up out West but is taking the visit due to his relationship with new Ducks HC Mario Cristobal.  He’s scheduled to be in Knoxville the following weekend and UT is viewed as the one school that could realistically flip him even though he currently has an OV set up to Florida the first weekend in February

A handful of Vol WR targets will be spread out across the country, but none of the hosting schools appear to be the top contender for any of them.  Texas A&M will host WR Jacob Copeland (Bama, UF, UT), UNC will host WR Warren Thompson (FSU, UT, maybe UF), OSU will host WR Antoine Green (UNC, UT – likely not a take for OSU), and Colorado State will host WR Brandon Aiyuk (no Vol offer – if I were him I’d take that Rams offer while it’s hot)

Ole Miss will have two UT targets on campus in TE Glenn Beal and DL Fabian Lovett.  Beal as everyone knows named Tennessee as his leader before his OV to Texas A&M, after which he is thought to be a heavy Aggie lean.  The fact that he has not yet committed (at least publicly) and that coaches from Tennessee and other schools keep visiting him tells me that he’s still open and that UT in particular is still trying here.  I don’t expect him to end up at Ole Miss.  Lovett is a MS native who was a Mississippi commitment until Dan Mullen left for swampier pastures.  The Vol staff has been working for a while to land an official and he’s now scheduled to be in Knoxville next weekend.  Ole Miss is a legit threat for the instate 3-4 DL though, so there’s a chance he commits while in Oxford.  But Florida is also a real contender thanks to Mullen and Lovett is currently set to visit Gainesville the first weekend of February

Louisiana Lafayette will host JUCO DL Emmit Gooden, who got a UT offer on Sunday night.  Gooden has to be considered an academic risk at this point (hence the visit to ULL), but if UT gains real confidence he can qualify they will pursue him heavily and I would expect him to end up a Vol

Quinten Dormady to transfer from Tennessee

Tennessee quarterback Quinten Dormady announced via his Twitter account today that he will finish his degree this spring and transfer somewhere else to play his final season.

Dormady started the first five games last season before giving way to Jarrett Guarantano and undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. As a graduate transfer, he’ll be eligible to play immediately next season should he complete his shoulder rehab.

Dormady played sparingly as Josh Dobbs’ backup in both the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Last year, he won the starting spot in fall camp and ended up completing 76 of 137 passes for 925 yards and 6 touchdowns with 6 interceptions. His final start came in the 41-0 loss to Georgia, a game during which he was benched after completing only five passes and throwing two interceptions. Guarantano took over after that game, and after a brief appearance in the South Carolina game, Dormady decided to undergo surgery on his shoulder, thus ending his season.

With Dormady gone, Tennessee’s quarterback roster consists of Guarantano and Will McBride as his backup. Also on the roster but without any playing experience are Zac Jancek and Seth Washington. Class of 2018 pro-style quarterback JT Shrout has signed his letter of intent, so he’ll be on campus next fall as well, but as of right now there are no other quarterbacks committed to Tennessee.

Best of luck to Dormady.

With the Hire of David Johnson, Look for the Vols to Focus on Louisiana in Recruiting

When it comes to recruiting, Jeremy Pruitt will of course focus on the burgeoning instate talent base first and foremost, with Georgia as always being a major pipeline.  Alabama and the Carolinas will likely be new areas that the staff seeks to mine that the prior staff struggled in, and the new staff’s recruiting prowess and relationships will mean that Tennessee is going to be back to recruiting elite prospects across the country from California to Florida.  However, with the hire of David Johnson from Memphis as his new WR Coach, Pruitt now has a real opportunity to make Louisiana a priority state as well.

Johnson, who attended Nicholls State in Thibodaux, LA before spending nearly a decade in the high school coaching ranks in his hometown of New Orleans, also spent four seasons coaching at Tulane.  His reputation as a recruiter is incredibly strong, and his ties in the state are extensive.  In fact, in two years on the Memphis staff he’s signed 5 players from there including Damonte Coxie, an LSU commitment who had his offer pulled just before National Signing Day in 2016 and made his way to Memphis through a connection between Johnson and Coxie’s high school coach.  There’s also Jonathan Wilson, a New Orleans native who signed with Tulane after being recruited there by Johnson and then decided to follow him to Memphis and has started on their defensive line since his freshman year.  In the 2018 cycle Johnson signed 3 Louisiana natives in December and has one more unsigned commitment from the state.

Johnson won’t be walking into a situation where his area of strongest connections are fresh ground for Tennessee.  Robert Gillespie has been working Louisiana for a long time himself, and has been making real hay down there.  In 2017 in fact Tennessee signed three prospects from Louisiana in DBs Cheyenne Labruzza and Terrell Bailey as well as RB Trey Coleman.  And though the 2018 class doesn’t yet include any Pelican State natives, the staff has Jumbo ATH Glenn Beal, DB Eddie Smith, and OLB/DE Michael Williams in their crosshairs. Beal already has Tennessee as his stated leader and Smith and Williams are currently in Knoxville on their official visits.  One would think the addition of Johnson to the staff can only help the Vols with these three.  Whether he can get Tennessee into the mix with elite WR Jamarr Chase, another LA native, remains to be seen.  Chase is at LSU this weekend and the Tigers will undoubtedly be trying to lock him down.  But Johnson was doing his best with Chase while at Memphis, and there is one more OV to be scheduled, so you can be sure he will try here.

LSU will always be the big dog in the state, and other powers, especially Alabama of late, will always recruit the state heavily.  However, there is an incredible amount of talent to go around in the state and in the class of 2019 alone seven Louisiana prospects ranked in the top 10 nationally at their positions.

Johnson also has relationships with high school coaches and prospects in Memphis, particularly one would assume with WRs in the Bluff City.  And fortunately for Tennessee, Memphis is home to three bigtime 2019 prospects in WR Shamar Nash, DE Eric Gregory and DT Trevis Hopper.  And the 2020 class also features stud WR Darin Turner, who will be a national recruit.

Johnson completes what can only be described as an elite recruiting staff, and his ties to Louisiana as well as Memphis complement the relationships that the rest of the assistants bring across the South and the rest of the country.  Look for Tennessee to make Louisiana more of a priority moving forward and for the tag-team of Johnson and Gillespie to start pulling bigtime players from the state almost immediately.

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.

Todd Kelly hospitalized for minor injuries after fall

Early this morning, reports surfaced that Tennessee senior safety Todd Kelly Jr. had been hospitalized for some unspecified injury. The injuries were reportedly not serious.

Kelly posted this tweet at 10:18 this morning:

Later in the day, Jimmy Hyams reported that, according to a UT police report, Kelly’s hospitalization was due to an apparent suicide attempt. The short version of the story is that Kelly and his girlfriend, both of whom had been drinking, got into an argument, he threatened to hurt himself, and then fell off a 30-foot retaining wall, at which point he was taken to UT Medical Center for treatment and evaluation.

Kelly now has posted another tweet:

Whatever happened, prayers for Kelly, his family, and his friends.

Does Tennessee’s current defensive line meet Jeremy Pruitt’s ideal?

Yesterday, we took our best guess at Jeremy Pruitt’s ideal roster makeup and concluded it would probably look something like the following:

  • 3-6 nose tackles;
  • 6-10 defensive ends;
  • 5-8 inside linebackers;
  • 5-8 outside linebackers;
  • 4-8 safeties;
  • 5-10 cornerbacks;
  • 4-6 running backs;
  • 3-4 quarterbacks;
  • 3-6 tight ends;
  • 8-13 wide receivers; and
  • 14-18 offensive linemen

Today, we’ll start taking a closer look at the returning roster to see how Pruitt might be viewing the current roster compared to his ideal roster. We’ll start with the defensive line.

Nose Tackles (3-6)

It’s probably not much of a stretch to think that defense will be foremost on Pruitt’s mind as he gets to work. In his 3-4 scheme, nose tackle is arguably the first and most important piece of the puzzle, which at first glance makes Kahlil McKenzie’s decision to leave early for the NFL all the more baffling.

Tennessee’s official roster does not delineate between defensive ends and tackles, so we’re going to go through the information to see which guys meet the ideal criteria for a nose tackle, which is a guy who is 5’11” to 6’5″ and between 290 and 340 pounds. Here’s a list of those guys:

98 Alexis Johnson DL NT 6-4 300 R-Jr.
97 Paul Bain DL NT 6-5 290 R-Jr.
2 Shy Tuttle DL NT 6-2 308 Jr.
52 Maurese Smith DL NT 6-3 324 Fr.
27 Eric Crosby DL NT 6-1 336 Fr.

Unless I’m mistaken, both Paul Bain and Maurese Smith are walk-ons, so they won’t be included in this analysis.

Looking at this list, it’s pretty clear that Shy Tuttle has the inside track to nailing down the starting position at nose tackle. He may have also beaten McKenzie out for that spot if McKenzie had chosen to return. That there is only one spot available might actually explain McKenzie’s decision to leave early.

In addition to the returning guys, the Vols also have signed letters of intent from three defensive linemen within 5-10 pounds of ideal nose tackle weight in Greg Emerson, Brant Lawless, and Kingston Harris. They also have a commitment from D’Andre Litaker, who already fits the criteria.

With three nose tackles already on scholarship, one probably coming, and at least three other recruits who could maybe grow into the position, the Vols are within their range of 3-6 nose tackles, but also have some room to add a couple more if desired.

Defensive Ends (6-10)

The ideal criteria for a defensive end is someone who is 6’2″ to 6’6″ and between 270 and 310 pounds. The list of returning guys on Tennessee’s roster who meet that criteria are . . . drumroll . . .

56 Matthew Butler DL DE 6-4 274 Fr.

No, that is not a mistake. Matthew Butler is the only defensive lineman on Tennessee’s roster who meets the ideal height and weight combination for a defensive end in the 3-4.

That leaves ten defensive linemen on Tennessee’s returning roster who don’t fit as either a nose tackle or a defensive end in the 3-4:

19 Darrell Taylor DL 6-4 254 R-So.
1 Jonathan Kongbo DL 6-6 264 R-Jr.
88 Brandon Benedict DL 6-2 250 R-Fr.
48 Ja’Quain Blakely DL 6-2 254 R-Fr.
55 Quay Picou DL 6-1 280 Jr.
5 Kyle Phillips DL 6-4 263 Jr.
95 Kivon Bennett DL 6-1 275 Fr.
94 TJ Minnifee DL 6-3 214 Fr.
44 Ryan Thaxton DL 6-4 236 Fr.
13 Deandre Johnson DL 6-4 258 Fr.

Brandon Benedict and TJ Minnifee are walk-ons, so don’t count against the scholarship limit.

Of the remaining guys, everyone seems to be a bit undersized for their positions, although some are very close. The Vols also have a signed letter of intent from Jordan Allen, whose recruiting profile lists him as a weakside defensive end, but he, too, is undersized at only 230 pounds. At that weight, he may actually end up a linebacker this fall.

With all of that, it appears that Tennessee currently has only one defensive end that is ideally-sized for the 3-4. Jonathan Kongbo and Kyle Phillips are the right height and are close to the right weight for the position, and we know that Darrell Taylor can play the spot despite being 15 pounds shy of the lower target range for weight. All said, though, it seems that there are a ton of defensive linemen who will be asked to add weight this offseason, and even then, the Vols may still be short 2-6 true defensive ends. The problem, of course, is that there are a lot of spots taken up by guys who may not fit the mold Pruitt is looking for, and he won’t be able to just add his guys without having those spots available.