After taking an unofficial visit to Knoxville the previous weekend for the Orange & White Game, USC WR transfer Velus Jones took an official visit this past weekend to Auburn. An Alabama native who signed with the Trojans when current Tennessee WR Coach and fellow Alabamian Tee Martin was the position coach in LA, Jones has two remaining seasons of eligibility. Assuming he would be immediately eligible and then have two seasons to play makes Jones an attractive addition, both because of the relative lack of quality/experienced depth at the position for Tennessee in 2019 but also because he’d effectively function as a JUCO prospect with high level major conference experience. Jones would also allow Tennessee coaches to keep Georgia transfer Deangleo Gibbs at the Nickel/Star position instead of at WR effectively functioning as a 2-for-1 addition to the roster. Auburn’s entrance into the sweepstakes means that, should Tennessee want to add Jones, it’s no longer a layup and the Vols will absolutely have to fight to land him
Bigtime Vol DB target Brian Branch committed to Alabama over the weekend. Branch, who’d been to Knoxville twice in 2019, committed to the Tide over the Vols and Oklahoma, where he’d just taken his official visit. Branch’s main recruiter at Alabama is Charles Kelly, the former Vols Safety coach. Kelly had been recruiting Branch to Tennessee as well and had a prior relationship with Branch’s high school coach. Kelly is likely to be a thorn in Tennessee’s side during the 2020 cycle in particular, as he is a strong recruiter overall and has built good relationships with multiple prospects in this class especially in the state of Alabama where Tennessee is recruiting heavily – Branch won’t likely be the be the last time we hear from Kelly
LB Mekhail Sherman was one of a handful of Tennessee targets who were in Athens this past weekend for UGA’s spring game, as he took his first of five allotted official visits. He joined the likes ofOL Paris Johnson, Tate Ratledge and Cooper Mays as well asRB Tank Bigsby; DL Zykevious Walker; OLB BJ Ojulari; TE Arik Gilbert; and DB Joel Williams as UGA visitors. Sherman is notably a high school teammate of major Vol and fellow 5-star prospect WR target Rakim Jarrett which could play in Tennessee’s favor as the Vols are right at the top for Jarrett if not his current outright leader. Sherman is an elite LB prospect and while he’s not been commonly mentioned name among Tennessee recruitniks the Vols are absolutely in the mix. He’s scheduled to take an official visit to Ohio State this coming weekend, and Tennessee is among a group with Florida and LSU (where Jarrett is OV’ing this coming weekend) who appear to round out his Top 5. The Vols do need to get Sherman to campus soon but he is somehow an “under the radar” prospect despite being a 5-star
With coaches getting on the road for the spring evaluation period, Tennssee handed out a few new offers for the 2020 and future classes. Among those new offers were midstate DT Michael Reese. Although a new name on Tennessee’s board, Reese does currently have offers from Georgia Tech, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt. He’s been to campus twice during the Pruitt era and at this point seems wide open. Adding another DL prospect to the offer board, as well as another instate player, seems like a good idea. It will be interesting to see how Reese, who’s currently listed at around 250 pounds, plays his senior season and in turn what happens with his recruitment
Having found success in the JUCO ranks in his first two classes at Tennessee, with Dominick Wood-Anderson, Emmitt Gooden, Savion Williams, and Darrel Middleton (though not so much with Kenneth George…can’t bat 1.000), Coach Jeremy Pruitt and staff seem intent on tapping that resource again in 2020. Holding an early commitment from the #1 JUCO prospect in the country in DL Jordan Davis, Tennessee already had offers out to CB Art Green of Hutchinson; WR Kundarrious Taylor of Copiah-Lincoln (Davis’s teammate and fellow Memphian); and DL Perrion Winfrey of Iowa Western. Tennessee’s newest JUCO offer is to CB Brian George of Highland, the country’s #2 overall JUCO prospect, making it five JUCO offers so far. While Pruitt has made great strides in remaking the roster since taking over in December 2017, there are still holes to fill and talent upgrades to be made, and between upper-echelon high school talent, blue-chip transfers, and Junior College talent, he’s showing that he’s willing to use any channel necessary
Turning to basketball recruiting, Tennessee (and now other schools like Texas A&M, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest) has offered North Carolina-based 2020 PG Jalen Cone the option of reclassifying to 2019. After an inhome visit with Coach Rick Barnes and assistant Des Oliver, the 60th ranked overall player in the 2020 class by Rivals has scheduled an official visit to Knoxville for the weekend of May 10th. Cone is a 5’9 guard with explosive athleticism and the ability to score at all three levels while also being a distributor. What’s interesting about this development of course is that with Jordan Bone’s likely early exit to professional basketball (hopefully via the NBA draft) the Vols could have a large hole to fill not just on the roster in general but specifically in the backcourt. While incoming 5-star freshman Josiah James is ostensibly a PG, at 6’6 he could also function as a 1-through-3 guard/wing on offense and potentially even a 1-through-4 on defense due to his length and strength. Therefore, the addition of Cone would not only give the Vols another playmaker in the backcourt but also give Tennessee a bigtime player on the roster for 3-4 years vs. just one more year for Bone. That’s a trade that could be a slight downgrade for 2020 – Bone is clearly more prepared to lead a team in 2019 than Cone is, even if Cone might have more pure talent – but it could actually give Tennessee more flexibility in the backcourt by allowing Barnes the freedom to play different combinations of Cone/James/Turner/Bowden (vs having to play Bone strictly ay PG and for 30+ minutes) but will also make the 2020 roster more experienced by giving Cone that extra season. Bone says he will take OVs to Yale (is he another Grant/Dobbs type?) and Baylor along with Tennessee, but Texas A&M and Virginia Tech will absolutely fight to get him to campus as well. Bet on the Vols absolutely trying to lock him down on the Mother’s Day Weekend visit, a development that would have large implications for the 2019-2020 season and beyond