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

Barnes, Bruce, and Cuonzo: The Real Thing

Somewhere in dreams, Bruce Pearl still wears an orange blazer and the Vols never missed an NCAA Tournament. Perhaps a little further west in dreams, Rick Barnes still wears that other shade of orange and his teams kept finding their way into the tournament’s second weekend.

The nearly-impossible task put before whoever would follow Pearl was to keep the dream alive. Tennessee made 13 NCAA Tournaments in the bracket’s first 67 years, then six in a row under Pearl. The Vols went to a single Sweet 16 in the 64-team field from 1985-2005, then went to three under Pearl. They won the SEC outright, made the program’s first Elite Eight, and even spent a week at number one. It was a good dream.

It didn’t turn out to be Cuonzo Martin’s dream; his tenure remains a Rorschach test for Tennessee fans. So was his second year at Cal, two seasons ago, when he took the Golden Bears to their highest seed in tournament history, then lost in the first round to 13-seed Hawaii while down two starters and an assistant coach. We tend to see what we want to see.

One of the most helpful lenses in judging a college basketball team is Ken Pomeroy’s ratings. Unsurprisingly, they rate Bruce Pearl’s 2008 squad as the best of his tenure. What is surprising: not only was Cuonzo Martin’s last Tennessee team rated higher than all of Pearl’s, but Barnes’ team this year is giving them a run for their money:

  • 2008: +22.17 adjusted efficiency, 13th nationally
  • 2014: +23.69, 10th
  • 2018: +21.77, 13th

The process was complicated, but the end result in 2014 finished closer to the mountaintop than any Tennessee team other than Pearl’s run to the Elite Eight in 2010. We’re a long way from the end result right now, but this Tennessee team has a higher KenPom rating than all of Pearl’s except 2008. Missing both the NCAA’s and the NIT the last three years trained us to not get ahead of ourselves, to keep doing the math on how many wins the Vols need just to get in the bracket. But KenPom’s math suggests this is far more than a bubble team.

And this year’s process runs through Cuonzo and CoMo tonight.

Dreams, by definition, end. Bruce Pearl was the architect of his own demise in Knoxville. Rick Barnes made five Sweet 16’s, three Elite Eight’s, and a Final Four from 2002-08. He sent 17 Longhorns to the NBA Draft in his 15-year stint in Austin, including five one-and-dones. But Texas never made it past the second round in Barnes’ last seven seasons.

I don’t know what Cuonzo’s dream is; I’m not sure he would speak in those terms anyway. But, when you listen to him talk about why he’s at Missouri in this outstanding piece from S.L. Price at Sports Illustrated, he might not be far from it.

This is the good news at the tail end of a decade of highs, lows, and complex emotions for Tennessee basketball and its coaches. Bruce Pearl didn’t find the same magic at Auburn in year one, but in year four his Tigers are 16-1 and headed for their first NCAA Tournament in 15 years. Cuonzo Martin took over a Missouri program that was 27-68 (8-46) under Kim Anderson, signed the nation’s best player only to lose him to injury two minutes into the season, and is still 12-5 (2-2). And Rick Barnes has stayed away from one-and-dones in Knoxville, but is putting together a season on pace to rival his predecessors’ best work.

Dreams are great. But reality, for all three men, is pretty great right now too.

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.

January 15th: Official Vist Weekend Recap

Although so far there have been no public commitments, without a doubt the first visit weekend out of the dead period was a huge success for Coach Jeremy Pruitt and the Vols.  Another sold out home basketball game in which Coach Rick Barnes and his crew took care of business didn’t hurt, and from social media one could tell that the current players were very involved as well.  The Vols either came out of the weekend as stated leaders or having massively improved their position with every official visitor.

Below is a quick look at where the Vols stand with each of this weekend’s OVs:

LB JJ Peterson had a great visit but will still take officials to Bama then UGA.  Although he seems very strong in his commitment to UT, no one should sleep on in particular Alabama here.  That said, his post-visit comments included a ton of “we” and talking about how he worked on fellow South Georgia LB stud Quay Walker, so it seems like the Vols are in solid shape here.

Speaking of Walker, the Vols made an absolutely huge impression on him and could realistically be considered the leader right now.  Although he’ll be taking an OV this weekend to Alabama (where he is committed in name only), the consensus is he’s not going there.  He has cancelled his OV to Florida, which was scheduled for the last weekend before NSD, so it’s UGA and then AU who will get his remaining visits and are the biggest threats.  However, no one else has the combo of coaches he knows/trusts like UT with Pruitt/Sherrer/Kelly so between that, the kind of early playing time that can only be offered at Tennessee, and good friend Peterson working on him, one has to feel like the Vols are in good if not great shape.  However, this is going to be a knock down drag out fight to the end.

CB Eddie Smith came out of the weekend saying the Vols are his leader.  He seemed to love everything about the visit and as a bonus knows new WR Coach David Johnson, who recruited him while at Memphis.  He didn’t commit though, and will still OV to MSU and then Alabama, who recently offered. That said, it wouldn’t completely shock me to see Smith decide to go ahead and commit before one if not both of those visits occur.  The Vols need Corners in a bad way and Smith is a very good one who no doubt sees the early playing time in Knoxville as a huge opportunity.

RB C’Bo Flemister now has the Vols in front, and frankly it doesn’t seem close. That said, he seems to understand that he’s in a bit of a holding pattern as the Vols both pursue other RB options and also decide whether roster needs elsewhere necessitate passing on another RB altogether.  In my opinion he’s vastly underrated as a 2-star prospect – he rushed for close to 2,000 yards this season and is a high level track athlete who at 6’0 could theoretically be moved to the secondary as well.  But with no other visits scheduled at this time he really has no choice but to wait, so this one will likely come down to whether UT decides he’s a take.

DE/OLB Michael Williams is a prospect I really like due to his insane athleticism for his size (remember, he played QB at 6’2, 250) and the positional versatility that comes with it.  Coming out of the visit he’s got Tennessee at the top along with Texas and LSU (who has no room).  He’s scheduled to visit Austin this weekend and I expect a decision shortly after.  In my opinion he’s a Vol if he’s a take.

WR Warren Thompson also enjoyed his first time in Knoxville, and though most consider FSU to be his most likely destination (he was committed to Willie Taggart at Oregon) the Vols appear to be legit contenders.  If the staff had its druthers Thompson would probably be 1B right behind Jacob Copeland on the WR board, so they’ll probably keep swinging here.

WR Geordon Porter had a great visit – being from Cali he was pleasantly surprised by how nice East TN is and of course impressed with Neyland Stadium and the facilities.  He was also particularly impressed by Coach Johnson, who he got to meet on Sunday. Where he sits on the WR board is unknown, but I am a big fan of the speedster from California who’s already 6’2 despite being young for his grade and whose recruitment has picked up considerably since the Early Signing Period.  He has one more OV that’s up in the air with UCLA, Florida, Texas A&M and others fighting for it.  It’s likely to take place the 1/26 weekend, so this one has some time to play out as the staff sees where they are with Copeland and Thompson in particular and with numbers in general.

WR Brandon Aiyuk loved his visit as one would assume a JUCO from the West Coast who’s only been to Kansas and Arizona State would.  He left without an offer, but Tennessee can get him if they want him.  Pruitt is supposed to be inhome with him this week, but with spots limited and the Vols in good shape for other WRs ahead of him on the board, this feels like a smart play by Pruitt to give himself options should things get squirrely with the other WRs.

WR Jordan Young from Conyers, GA was a surprise visitor and received an offer on Sunday afternoon.  He’s unrated by both major sites – in fact, as of this writing he doesn’t even have a Rivals profile.  What’s odd is that unlike Flemister, who’s from the small town of Zebulon, GA and seems to have been legitimately overlooked, Young not only is from outside of Atlanta but actually made the AAAAAA All-State team.  The similarity to Flemister, though, is that both are track athletes.  This article discusses not only his track exploits but also his ability to bounce back from serious injury (an injury which may explain his low recruiting profile?).  It’s interesting that he got an offer this weekend while Aiyuk did not, and while he has great size at 6’3 and close to 200lbs and the obvious athleticism, I have to think the staff isn’t ready to take him yet.  It will be interesting to see what happens with his recruitment now that UT has offered…

DE Kurott Garland was the other surprise visitor and, similarly to his teammate Young, has an incredibly low recruiting profile.  He’s got similar size to someone like Caleb Okechukwu, and had a nice senior season checking in as an Honorable Mention All State player, but like Young my guess is this offer is contingent on what happens with others higher on the board.  That said, I give the staff a ton of credit both for unearthing two prospects in Young and Garland who look like really good players regardless of rankings and also for expanding their options as much as possible.

Notes on Other Targets

ATH Anthony Grant, ostensibly a UT commitment, was at UNC this weekend for his second official visit after seeing Virginia Tech in December.  No word yet on how the visit went, and there still is not much clarity about where he stands in his commitment – which likely means it’s safe to consider it far from solid.  Whether he schedules an OV with Tennessee is still an open question, and until he does it seems doubtful he ends up in this class.

Major OL target Johncarlo Valentin verbally committed to Baylor while on his official visit in Waco.  That’s a blow to the Vols, as many including myself felt like the Vols were in at least decent shape after he OV’d to Knoxville in December and considered him to be an instant contributor to an Offensive Line that needs immediate help in 2018. To what extent Tennessee continues to try with Valentin is unknown, but considering the dearth of other options and the need at the position, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Vol coaches keep trying as much as Valentin is willing to listen.

TE Glenn Beal, who named Tennessee his leader as recently as last week, appears to have fallen in love while in College Station, TX.  He tweeted on Sunday night that a big announcement is coming Monday – is that trimming his list again or a commitment?  Time will tell, but all indications are that the Aggies are in a good spot.  Beal is an excellent prospect with high potential at a number of positions (TE, OL, DE) and is the kind of player who you’d love to sign if you didn’t have real needs across the roster like Tennessee does.  However, with two TEs already signed one wonders if he wasn’t viewed by the staff as a luxury “love to have” while players at other positions of more immediate need are more “need to have.”  Like Valentin, we’ll see if the Vol staff keeps trying here or not if Beal does indeed commit to A&M.

CB Olaijah Griffin was at USC this weekend and will be there until Monday as he’s now elected to skip the Polynesian Bowl.  According to 247 he’s having a really good visit and his family is encouraging him to stay closer to home.  USC has been viewed as the “favorite” despite Griffin naming Tennessee his leader a few weeks ago.  Knoxville remains his most likely destination if he were to leave the West Coast, but that is likely going to be a major battle.  I expect Coach Nidermayer, who started this recruitment back in December with a great inhome visit, to along with DB Coach Terry Fair spend quite a bit of time in California working this one all the way to Signing Day.  Griffin is good enough to expend all necessary time and resources, and given that he’d likely be a strong candidate to be a Day 1 starter it’s a good bet Pruitt will do just that.  He still has visits available, and Oregon, Auburn, and Florida are all fighting to receive one.

DT Coynis Miller took his official visit to Auburn, where he has been committed to for months, and while he seemed to enjoy himself he is still planning to take his other scheduled official visits.  He’ll start with a trip to Eugene, OR to see the Ducks, followed by trips to UT and then Florida.  Tennessee seems like the only real possibility for a flip, and as a top end NG prospect who Pruitt and Co. were on the first day on the job you can bet they will pull out all the stops when they do get him on campus.

CB Roger McCreary took his official visit to instate Auburn, and while he named AU his leader he did not commit.  I’m not sure that staff was ready to take his commitment, as they are technically still in the race for Griffin (scheduled for an OV 2/2) and a handful of other CBs.  McCreary will OV to Alabama this coming weekend and then is scheduled to be at UT 1/26.  He’s likely down on the board for all three, but he’s a good enough prospect that he likely will end up with a spot somewhere.

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.  The question is how many more DL they want to take – Coynis Miller is a take no matter what as the only pure NG on the board, but Malik Langham is a really good player who seems to be a battle between the Vols and instate Alabama.  And now, per the below, Emmit Gooden is on the board.  Can the Vols take two?  All three? Not sure, but that’s another interesting positional balance the staff will have to manage..

Speaking of Langham, no word yet on how his official visit to Vanderbilt went – I don’t consider them to be serious contenders – but interestingly Langham’s primary recruiter at Alabama has been Brian Daboll, the now former Tide OC who is leaving for the NFL.  Obviously Langham has other relationships on that staff, but considering Alabama now has neither a DC nor Langham’s main recruiter, things certainly don’t look the same for him when it comes to who he knows and likes and would play for there.  He’s scheduled to be at Alabama this coming weekend and then UF 1/26 and then will take his visit to Knoxville the first weekend in February.  If he makes it out of Tuscaloosa without committing to the Tide and the Vols are still pushing I think there’s a very good chance he ends up in Orange and White.

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 (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.

Two New Sunday Night Offers

JUCO DT Emmit Gooden received an offer from Tennessee on Sunday evening.  The big man from Haywood, TN was a UT commitment back in 2014 as a member of the 2016 class, only to end up signing with Mississippi State.  He didn’t qualify and has spent the last two seasons at Independence C.C. in Kansas.  His recruitment has started to heat up recently with offers from Florida and now Tennessee.  He’s now set to visit Knoxville on February 2nd, with an OV to Louisiana Lafayette this coming weekend and then options among UF and others for the following.  My opinion is that if this staff pushes he’ll end up a Volunteer.  He’s a grown man at this point, and physically will be ready to play immediately at either Strongside DE or even NG.  This will be one to watch closely moving forward.

CB Taiyvon Palmer also received a Sunday night offer from the Vols.  Palmer, from outside of Atlanta, is a former Duke commitment whose recruiting has absolutely blown up in the last month – he received offers from Clemson, Notre Dame, and now UT in the last week alone.  He’s another 6’0 CB whose second official visit this weekend was to Nebraska.  He’s got one scheduled to NC State this coming weekend but has two more available for the final two weeks before Signing Day.  It remains to be seen how interested he is, but like all of the other CBs who have received offers from the Pruitt staff he’s likely at least intrigued by both the possibility of being coached by Pruitt and Terry Fair as well as the large opportunity for immediate playing time.

Gameday Today: Hoops continues to build steam

Hoops

If you haven’t ever watched a Rick Barnes press conference, you really should take the time to do it. He’s super casual, funny, insightful, and refreshingly open and honest about everything. Here’s a taste:

Speaking of refreshing, check out Admiral Schofield’s interview with the SEC Network after the A&M game Saturday night:

Dude looks like he could absolutely wreck you physically and sounds like he could dominate you at debate club. Love this guy.

Not to be outdone, Grant Williams made this list of performances of the week thanks to his 37 points against Vandy:

And the #6 Lady Vols beat #9 South Carolina 86-70 thanks in part to a double-double from senior Mercedes Russell.

Football

Lots of visitors on campus this weekend, but no real news on any commits resulting from it just yet.

Former Tennessee commit Matthew Flint recently explained his earlier decommitment saying that he “never quit” on Tennessee. Sounds like a victim of coaching change.

One of the few bright spots of the 2017 football season, offensive lineman Trey Smith got some love at the basketball game on Saturday:

And hey, Alabama is not only looking for a new defensive coordinator to replace Jeremy Pruitt, they are now also looking for a new offensive coordinator to replace Brian Daboll, who took a job with the NFL’s Bills after only one season with Nick Saban. If you’re thinking they’re going to have any trouble finding two awesome coordinators, you’re probably wrong. Sigh.

Oh, and Georgia looks like they’re going to be trouble for at least another couple of years. Sigh again.

All-around effort leads Vols to 75-62 win over Texas A&M

Coming off a 37-point dominating performance in a 92-84 win over Vanderbilt earlier this week, Grant Williams this evening instead served as the “inside” to Tennessee’s inside-out game against a tall Texas A&M squad en route to a 75-62 win over the Aggies.

Williams was credited with only two actual assists on the night, but he was often the trigger man for a series of quick passes out of the post and then around the perimeter before a wide open shot went down. Every starter on the roster scored in double figures except Williams, who still finished with 9, and the team outdid the Aggies on the offensive boards 14-6 as well.

A&M entered Thompson-Boling Arena on a four-game skid after starting 11-1, but this would be their first game back at full strength. The game was tight early, but the Vols began to pull away about halfway through the first half. Heading into the locker room for the break, Tennessee was ahead 36-28.

The Aggies seemed just barely shy of theatening most of the rest of the way, but never really put it together. They made one final push with about six minutes remaining and the Vols stuck on 65, cutting the lead down to 6 points with 3:41 to go. Grant Williams put an end to that out of a timeout, though, with a sweet jump hook for 2 in the middle of the lane, and the Vols mostly coasted home from there.

Jordan Bowden led the way with 15 points, and Kyle Alexander, Admiral Schofield, and Jordan Bone had 14, 12, and 10. Scofield led the team on the boards with 8.

The Vols move to 12-4 overall and 3-2 in the SEC, 1.5 games behind 4-0 Auburn. They are currently 13th in RPI and 14th in KenPom. Up next is Missouri, Wednesday at 9:00.

Go Vols!

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.