After appearing to have hit on multiple 2019 signees who earned offers at Tennessee summer camps, the Vols have struck again, adding a commitment Friday from OL Javontez Spraggins from East St. Louis, IL. Spraggins, a 6’2, 330+ pound road grader, was an unknown to even the most ardent followers of Tennessee recruiting until his commitment popped, but had sprung onto the recruiting scene in a big way over the last few weeks after a handful of dominant camp performances as far back as January.
Spraggins earned “Alpha Dog” status at two different camps, showing off great bend, strength, and his calling card – aggressiveness – at both. He earned offers from Mizzouri, Iowa State and instate Illinois after the most recent dominant performance – earning the title of “meanest OL in the Midwest” from 247 Sports’s Allen Treiu and then completely showed out at Tennessee’s camp on Friday, earning an offer he immediately jumped on.
Spraggins joins the likes of 2019 OL signees Melvin McBride and Chris Akporoghene, as well as WR Jerrod Means, LB/DL Roman Harrison and a handful of others who earned their Tennessee offers by showing up to camps in Knoxville and earning their respective offers. Jeremy Pruitt and his staff seem to stand out from the pack when it comes to trusting their own player evaluations, and there’s nothing Pruitt loves better than seeing a prospect up close and personal while working him out and determining whether or not the kid can help Tennessee get back to the top. Spraggins obviously was able to prove that on Friday.
From an overall class perspective, Spraggins is the first OL commitment in the class that will likely feature no more than four of them. With Tennessee seemingly in great shape for bigtime instate targets Cooper Mays and Chris Morris and in the top group for at least a half dozen other heavily recruited OL, the fact that the Vols were willing to take Spraggins so quickly says a lot about their evaluation of him. His commitment also could give the Vols some momentum in the early stages of what is a bigtime month of June.