Gameday on Rocky Top

All season long, Coach Jeremy Pruitt lamented the fact that the Vols were well below the 85-scholarship limit.  Between preseason injuries, inseason departures, and redshirts, at times the Vols were operating with below even 70 scholarship players.  What he didn’t say was that the NCAA’s relatively recent restriction on enrolling more than 25 players in a given class makes it incredibly difficult to catch back up to that number even over time, putting programs who started well below 85 scholarships at an very large competitive disadvantage.  With the news earlier this week that two redshirt senior-to-be OL Ryan Johnson and Marcus Tatum are entering the transfer portal, the scholarship situation facing Tennessee came into even more focus.  It wasn’t that long ago that guys like them would make a leap in their final season, especially on the OL – how many Fulmer teams were built around OL who had stuck around, paid their dues, and were given a chance in their final season?  As it’s become so easy for players to transfer, especially for young men looking who have graduated and are simply for more playing time in their final year of eligibility like Johnson and Tatum, it’s a reasonable question to ask: How can anyone actually catch up?

In our look at Edge Rushers earlier in the week, we noted that the Vols have around 7 spots remaining in the class, but caveated that statement with the following question: “Will the Vols try and greyshirt someone like Darrion Williamson (ACL injury) or Will Albright to fit another player into the class?  Does Melvin McBride’s medical retirement give the Vols room to enroll 26 in this class?  Both are questions that the answers to will determine how many more spots there actually are.”  It should also be noted that Tennessee commitments WR Jimmy Calloway and OLB Jimari Butler are taking visits elsewhere, and Calloway particularly looks like a potential flight risk, so even the current number of 18 commitments (and therefore 7 spots) is a little tentative.

Looking at those specific situations above a little further, one can see how they each make sense:

*Williamson suffered an ACL injury in the fall.  Before even getting to the fact that he’s a relatively raw prospect to begin with, the injury itself makes it incredibly unlikely that he can meaningfully contribute in 2020 if he can physically get on the field at all.  Why start his eligibility clock now?  Instead, let him enroll in January 2021 and have his five years to play four start with the 2021 season.  That’s a win-win for both parties

*Albright is a Longsnapper, and as Longsnappers go he’s a great prospect as evidenced by his spot on the All-American Bowl roster.  Forgetting any argument about whether a program should use one of its precious 25 scholarships at that position (we’re neither for nor against, per se), the Vols will lose a steady senior in Riley Lovingood after the season and need someone to replace him immediately.  Is that something a freshman can do?  Again, not being knowledgeable enough about the intricacies of the position it’s tough to say, but what we do know is that Tennessee’s current roster lists two other LS’s – RS Senior-to be Jake Yelich (rated as a five-star LS by Chris Sailer Kicking/Rubio Long Snapping coming out of high school) and RS Sophomore-to be Matthew Salansky.  So Tennessee does have players who’ve been in the program that could potentially step in at least for 2020.  That would allow Albright to greyshirt and like Williamson start his 5-to-play-4 in 2021

*When it comes to McBride’s 2019 initial counter, there is just so much gray area here.  Further to the point about counters from 2019, however, Tennessee was by all accounts all set to sign longtime commitment Anthony Harris.  He would have had to have had a spot, and one would think that the fact that he did not enroll would mean that spot is now available.  So what Tennessee can roll over from 2019 is incredibly opaque

Again, all of this is speculation.  It’s likely no one outside of Pruitt and his compliance team knows the exact situation.  What we do know is that the existing 18 commitments collectively represent a large step forward in terms of depth and talent across the board for the program.  Even the most ardent “NegaVol” would be hard-pressed to find a commitment that doesn’t look like a really good prospect or, more importantly, a position group that doesn’t clearly look like it’s being improved.  There is a reason that despite having only those 18 commitments the class is ranked #20 nationally, with a clear path to being at worst in the Top 15 and even a “If things break perfectly” path to inside the Top 10.

What’s left for the staff to accomplish is filling as many needs as possible while leaving themselves wiggle room to go the Best Player Available route if necessary/possible.  How they plan on doing that beyond simply building as big of a board of top-shelf realistic options (which they have done and continue to do during the contact period) remains to be seen.  TE Darnell Washington has a spot, of that we are sure.  Do they take both ILBs Vai Kaho and Desmond Tisdol?  What would that, and the potential addition of RB Jabari Small, do for Len’neth Whitehead?  How many of DL Tyler Baron, Octavius Oxendine, Omari Thomas, Reginald Perry, and Nazir Stackhouse would they take if they could take ALL of them? What about the aforementioned Edge Rushers Morven Joseph and Khari Coleman, a group they’ve added former Ole Miss commitment and December 13^th official visitor Jaqwondis Burns to all the while according to Volquest still pursuing former commitment BJ Ojulari?  How many Offensive Playmakers can they take, with QB/WR Jimmy Holiday along with Small, WR Ramon Henderson, and RB Zaquandre White – the latter three December 13^th official visitors – firmly on the board and even WRs Rakim Jarrett and Thaiu Jones-Bell at least on the periphery?  Heck, even JUCO DB Emmanuel Appiah is scheduled to OV December 13^th, too, and he’s a very promising prospect who also happens to be an EE.  Again, there are still needs across the roster, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Pruitt and his staff to just rank their board and go from there, positions be damned. 

Ultimately what we’re advocating is for Pruitt to use any means necessary to sign *as many of the above prospects as possible*.  Greenshirts, Greyshirts, Redshirts, Blueshirts (h/t: Dr. Seuss). Backcounting, frontloading, anything in between.  Even, frankly, borrowing from 2021.  Because right now, despite the strong classes of 2018 and 2019 and the incredible development of the players from prior classes that Pruitt and his staff have done, the program simply needs better talent and more of it.  And with the transfer portal changing the game and no other recourse to catch up scholarship-wise, it would behoove Tennessee to take advantage of as many loopholes and avenues as possible to replenish the roster.  They’ve done the work to put themselves in position to land – in a vacuum – all of the players above.  Now they should do whatever it takes to sign as many of them as they can.

With around* 7 spots remaining to fill in the 2020 class, Tennessee has set itself up with a nice board on both offense and defense, and its existing 18 commitments collectively represent a step forward in terms of depth and talent across the board for the program.  What’s left for the staff to accomplish is filling as many needs as possible while leaving themselves wiggle room to go the Best Player Available route if necessary/possible.  At the same time they’ll need to keep all of their existing commitments, with the main focus on WR Jimmy Calloway (UK, OU, UGA in contention) and OLB Jimari Butler (Nebraska). 

At the specific position of Edge Rusher (OLB in a 3-4, DE in a 4-3), the aforementioned Butler is Tennessee’s only current commitment.  Theoretically, especially with the upcoming departure of senior Darrell Taylor, the Vols could use another prospect at the position.  To that end, the Vols hosted Kansas commitment Khari Coleman and FSU commitment Morven Joseph this past weekend on official visits.  Tennessee has been involved with both players since the summer, having them on campus for camp and offering them scholarships around that time.  Coleman is a New Orleans native who had an incredibly productive season and at around 6’1-6’2 and 210-215 pounds uses his speed around the edge as his calling card.  Joseph is a bit more physically imposing at 6’3 and 215-220 pounds and is also a more well-known prospect than Coleman, having formerly been a Florida commitment before flipping to the Seminoles over the summer. 

While Coleman came out of the weekend calling Tennessee his leader, Joseph was a bit more muted in his post-visit interviews although seemingly still being pretty impressed.  At the same time, both will be taking other visits, with Coleman scheduled to see TCU and then Vanderbilt before the Early Signing Period begins December 18^th and Joseph set to see the Gators this coming weekend.  Therefore, there is no reason to think that Tennessee can definitely land either or both of these players should the staff decide to push.  What’s perhaps more pertinent is whether or not Tennessee truly needs either of them in this class – assuming Butler is solid – unless it were as a Best Player Available with a final spot.  With the emergence of junior-to-be Kivon Bennett over the course of the season and the continued development of true freshmen Quarvaris Crouch and Roman Harrison – all three of whom had a sack in Saturday’s season finale – there is perhaps a less immediate need for the 2020 season.  The team will also return senior-to-be Deandre Johnson, a solid contributor and certainly a rotational SEC player, along with Butler.  Commitments Martavius French and Bryson Eason, both of whom have played all over the field for their Memphis Whitehaven High School team including as pass rushers, could also figure into that mix both immediately in 2020 and also into the future.  Finally, Knoxville Catholic’s Tyler Baron, thought at this point to be a heavy lean to Tennessee, has the potential to give the Vols some immediate help on the edge in 2020 even if his future position is likely more as a true DL as his body fills out.

Tennessee 100% wants to add Baron along with DL Omari Thomas and Octavius Oxendine, and the Vols are at worst co-leaders for each of the three. DL Reggie Perry took an official visit to Tennessee this weekend as well and apparently made a huge move, and the Vols even got Georgia DL commitment Nazir Stackhouse on campus unofficially – Pruitt and Ansley will be in with him today, likely to try and see how serious Stackhouse really is and try and secure an OV.  They want at least one more ILB, with Vai Kaho, Desmond Tisdol, and Len’neth Whitehead (not a RB) all very much in play.  There is also speculation that Coach Pruitt would like to sign another DB, and JUCO Emmanuel Appiah is scheduled to officially visit the December 13^th weekend.  TE Darnell Washington will have a spot reserved for him until his signed LOI is announced by another school.  And at least from this writer’s perspective the Vols could absolutely use at least one more playmaker, with ATHs Jimmy Holiday and Ramon Henderson, WRs Dee Beckwith and Jaylon Barden, and RB Jabari Small and Zaquandre White all in the mix (not to mention longshots Thaiu Jones-Bell and Rakim Jarrett).   Obviously Tennessee wouldn’t win out for all of these prospects whether it had the room or not.  The Vols are battling programs like Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Notre Dame for many of them, and some of them are committed elsewhere for now.  But the fact that Tennessee is in the mix with such a number of high quality prospects with such a relatively low number of spots gives one a sense for the kinds of decisions that Pruitt and his staff are going to have to make.

Both Coleman and Joseph are high-quality prospects in their own right and one could absolutely make the case that there is a real need for Tennessee to add another Edge Rusher in this class, especially in a vacuum.  However, although Pruitt has gotten the program into a much better spot than it was when he arrived (through both recruiting and development) there are still multiple needs across the roster.  And this position does have a good (if not great, where it needs to be) blend of depth and talent.  Therefore it won’t be a surprise to see the Vols go either way on this question, but the view here is that there are greater needs elsewhere and that if they do decide to push for one or both of them it will and should be as a Best Player Available with a final spot in the class.

*Will the Vols try and greyshirt someone like Darrion Williamson (injury) or Will Albright to fit another player into the class?  Does Melvin McBride’s medical retirement give the Vols room to enroll 26 in this class?  Both are questions that the answers to will determine how many more spots there actually are