With the Vols on their second of two bye weeks of the
season, the Tennessee staff will not only take the opportunity to rest its team
and develop its younger players but also reassess its 2020 recruiting
board. They’ll likely hit the road and
touch base with prospects while at the same time likely handing out at least a
handful of new offers. Below we’ll take
a look at the Offensive Board by position and evaluate where these prospects
sit on Tennessee’s board as well as their reciprocal interest. As a reminder, the Vols currently have 18
commitments, giving them 7-8 spots to work with and multiple needs to address:
QB
Current commitment: Harrison
Bailey
Prospect:
Jimmy Holiday
Holiday is a TCU commitment from Madison, MS who has shined
over the course of his senior season. We
featured him in an article talking about the need for playmakers
in early October, after which Holiday took an official visit to Tennessee in
October for the UGA weekend. While it’s
unclear whether or not TCU is recruiting him as a QB or as more of an ATH
(read: WR), what’s not in doubt is the fact that Holiday considers himself a
QB. The Vols have told him that they
will absolutely give him his first opportunity at QB, which seems to have
resonated with him. Bottom line is he’s ~6’0
and 180 pounds, runs a sub-4.4 40 and notched the 7th best overall SPARQ score
at a Nike Regional event over the summer that included over 300 other prospects
– and ALL of that translates on film. Whether or not the Vols need another
QB in this class is up for debate, which is why the fact that Holiday projects
as an electric playmaker with the ball in his hands no matter where he ends up
a more valuable prospect for Tennessee.
Holiday took his OV to TCU over the summer, so the Horned Frogs won’t
get a chance to host him in that manner again.
He’s been committed to them for a while now, so flipping him won’t be
particularly easy, but the chance to play QB and play in the SEC could be
enough if the Vols decide to push.
RB
Current commitment: Tee
Hodge
Prospects*:
Zaquandre White
(JUCO)
Ty Jordan – Texas
commitment
John Gentry –
Arkansas decommitment
Don Ragsdale
(JUCO) – USM commitment
Like QB, one could make the case that Tennessee doesn’t need
another RB in this class. All three of
Tennessee’s RBs who have played this season – Ty Chandler, Tim Jordan, and Eric
Gray – have eligibility remaining, and even the one senior in the RB room in
Carlin Fils-aime could potentially redshirt and return. Hodge’s senior season has been plagued by
injury and he hasn’t put up monster stats, but there is a reason that schools
like Wisconsin and Oregon wanted him up to when he committed to the Vols over
the summer, and in the Badger’s case continue to try. Hodge looks like a solid and capable SEC RB,
something that’s not to be understated.
And assuming all of the above return in 2020 that would give Tennessee
four (or five, pending CFA) RBs. It would
also set them up to need at least two in 2021, which in theory is precarious. However, at the same time that would give the
Vols a tremendous sales pitch. Because
for all of the great things that Jeremy Pruitt has done in terms of upgrading
the talent and depth in the program, one sore spot he’s so far failed to
correct is Tennessee’s decade-long inability to land a bigtime, no-brainer,
blue-chip 5-star RB. While Eric Gray was
a highly regarded and coveted prospect, he’s just not on the level of the kind
of RBs that the likes of Alabama and Georgia have been adding literally year
after year, sometimes landing more than one in a class. There are still more than a few things that
Tennessee needs to do to reach the next level of truly going toe-to-toe with
the Tide and Bulldogs as well as competing for championships, but having that
kind of gamebreaking RB is one of them.
That has to be considered an absolute MUST for 2021.
As for the RBs on the board should the Vols choose to add one more, it’s an interesting group. Given the above, on the one hand it makes sense to add a JUCO who would bring maturity and experience to a potentially shorthanded group. On the other hand, if the concern is more about who is around past 2020 then a JUCO makes less sense. Either way, White is seemingly the most likely to make an instant impact, as he has the strongest pedigree as a former 4-star FSU signee and has had a nice sophomore year in Junior College. The Vols have been on him for a while but so far he hasn’t been to campus since Pruitt was the coach, although it should be noted that he’s not been anywhere else either this year. Jordan is the other one of the group who the Vols have been recruiting for some time, and he took an OV to Knoxville this summer before ultimately deciding to stay close to home, at least partially due to an illness in the family. With the Vols adding a commitment from his high school teammate OL Kyree Miller, however, Volquest.com has reported that Tennessee has reengaged at least a little with Jordan. Ultimately it seems hard to see the small but very dynamic back opting to leave the state, but like with most if not all prospects Tennessee covets they likely won’t stop trying. The last three RBs on the board are all very new offers – with Tennessee tendering each of them in the past week or so. Gentry is another Lone Star state standout, and Arkansas’s firing of Coach Chad Morris caused him to back off of his pledge to the Razorbacks. Gentry seems like a Utah lean and as of this writing Amos appears to be ready to jump in the sinking ship that is Gamecock football, so those two could be off the board before Tennessee has time to gain any footing. Finally, Ragsdale, the newest offeree, is the second JUCO on the board and is currently committed to homestate Southern Mississippi. He’s a big, powerful back whose film shows some impressive shiftiness but a lack of top end speed – think a bigger Tim Jordan while at the same time thinking of your prototypical Southern Miss RB.
*It is very important to note that Tennessee is recruiting
both Desmond Tisdol and Len’neth Whitehead as Athletes who
could play both RB or ILB. Both of them
are high level prospects and both could possibly be considered Vol leans at
this point (with the South Carolina implosion moving the needle for both). That said, not only is there still a need for
another ILB in the class, but I have a hard time seeing Jeremy Pruitt put bigtime
players on offense when he has a choice of keeping them on the defensive
side. Therefore for these purposes
neither prospect is being counted on the RB board
WR
Current commitments: Jalin
Hyatt, Jimmy Calloway, and Darion
Williamson
Prospect(s):
Rakim Jarrett (LSU commitment)
Thaiu Jones-Bell (Alabama commitment)
Dee Beckwith
With the impending graduation of two potential All-SEC
players in Jajuan Jennings and Marquez Callaway, Tennessee’s passing game is inevitably
going to look different in 2020. Whether
it ends up worse is TBD, as the move of UGA transfer Deangelo Gibbs from DB to
WR and the decision to redshirt the dependable soon-to-be 5th year
senior Brandon Johnson will give the Vols some veterans that they didn’t
necessarily think would be there when the season started. At the same time, freshmen Cedric Tillman, Ramel
Keyton and Jerrod Means have gotten some real playing time this season, giving
the Vols some more experience as well.
And of course Josh Palmer will be in line to take over as the headliner
of the group. Finally, in the second
year of OC Jim Chaney’s system there could be more involvement in the passing
game for both the TEs (especially if they add the stud prospect below) and
RBs.
That said, Tennessee needs an infusion of both quantity and
quality at the position in the 2020 class, and although they have three commitments
they could stand to add at least one more and are recruiting as such. Even more because Calloway is still looking
to take visits – to at least OU if not also UK and maybe homestate UGA if they
end up offering – and Williamson has visited Memphis this season and also is
less likely to be a Year 1 contributor given his inseason knee injury. Tennessee was thought to be the leader for
Jarrett in the spring until he made a surprising commitment to LSU (no one knew
at that point their offense would resemble the Greatest Show on Turf), and even
a summer official visit to Knoxville wasn’t enough to flip him. The Vols have continued to stay in touch and
so far Jarrett hasn’t told them a final “no,” while at the same time taking a
late October OV to Alabama, but that one looks like an uphill battle. Similarly, Tennessee was 1B to Alabama’s 1A
when Jones-Bell committed over the summer, with some actually thinking that he
was going to announce for the Vols. An
unofficial visit to Knoxville for the South Carolina game was a great sign for
Tennessee – now it will be about getting an official visit for the December
signee. He’s talked about taking his OV
to Bama the second to last weekend before the early signing period and then to Knoxville
for the last weekend; in theory that sets up well for the Vols but one can be
sure that Alabama will do everything it can to shut that down when he’s in
Tuscaloosa. Volquest.com has hinted that
Jones-Bell’s mother isn’t a big fan of the Tide and she did accompany him on that
recent trip to Knoxville. Ultimately it
could prove too difficult to flip a Bama commitment who the Tide is all in on,
but the Vols are very much in the thick of it for an instant impact pass
catcher. The final player on the board
is arguably the most interesting, as Beckwith is not only a multi-positional player
on the gridiron but also a high level basketball player. He’s now been offered the chance to play both
sports at Tennessee to go with his other top schools like Florida (arguably
Tennessee’s top competition), Ole Miss and instate Auburn. At 6-5, 215 pounds he shows uncanny agility
playing part-time QB for his high school
team while also WR/TE and even RB. He’d
be a Swiss Army Knife kind of player for Chaney, capable of playing Wildcat QB
(and passing, too) while also both running and catching the football. Beckwith is probably the most likely of the
three and the Vols would do well to add him to the collection of WR talent they
already have committed. Should they
combine him with either of Jarrett or Jones-Bell the Vols would have hit a grand
slam at the position in the timeliest manner possible.
TE
Current commitments: None
Prospect: Darnell Washington
We’ve made the argument
that Washington is the only TE the Vols should attempt sign. Since then he’s made an unofficial visit to
Knoxville for the UAB game, making it close to a half dozen visits to Tennessee
since last year. He also took his
Alabama official visit this past weekend, which by all accounts helped the Tide
get back into the race. Georgia is still
considered one of his top choices, and he’s taking an OV to Oregon this coming
weekend. That will leave him one more
OV, which the Vols will be fighting Miami for.
Indications from 247 Sports are that he’s more likely to visit Knoxville
than Coral Gables, and if he does so you really have to like Tennessee’s
chances here. The Vols have had
uber-recruiter Brian Niedermeyer on Washington from the get-go, and will have
gotten not only Washington’s last official visit but two of his final four
campus visits overall and the chance to make the final impression. Washington is a certain Day 1 starter at Tennessee
and would instantly help the Vols recoup some of what will be lost in the
passing game with the graduation of Jennings and Callaway.
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