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. After previously looking at the Offensive Big Board, below we’ll take a look at the Defensive and Offensive Line boards 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:
OL
Current commitments:
James Robinson
Cooper Mays
Javontez Spraggins
Kyree Miller
Prospects:
Chris Morris (Texas A&M commitment)
Marcus Henderson
RJ Adams
Jeremy Flax (JUCO)
With four really strong OL commitments, including at least a couple who can play multiple positions once they get to college, OL is the position where the Vols both can afford to be picky and also potentially pass on adding another player altogether. To that point, OL is almost certainly to be a Best Player Available position, where Tennessee likely fills needs elsewhere before taking another OL. That’s speculation, and it does seem like if Chris Morris specifically called and wanted in the Vols would be hard pressed to tell them no. Morris is a very good prospect who Tennessee has recruited for over a year, and it seems certain that they will try and get him back to Knoxville at least one time before he signs. Henderson is a fellow Memphis native (though Morris now plays football in West Memphis, AR) whose recruitment has been a bit of a rollercoaster after starting as a highly coveted prospect, dropping off a lot of radars due to putting on bad weight, and then heating back up again thanks to a strong senior season. He’s tentatively scheduled to OV to Tennessee for the Vanderbilt game, and from there it will be interesting to see what the Vols think. Adams is an Under Armour All-American who likely projects more as an(other) interior OL prospect. The former PSU commitment visited unofficially for Tennessee’s UAB weekend and by all accounts is very interested in returning for an OV. Flax is very intriguing – a big (6’6, 320) pure OT JUCO prospect with three seasons of eligibility (ala Jahmir Johnson) that makes him less of a “risk” than your normal JUCO OL. He’s got recent offers from UK, Louisville, and Texas Tech along with his new Vol offer. Whether he ends up visiting or not is TBD, and his spot on the board will be better known once that is worked out.
DL
Current commitment:
Dominic Bailey
Prospects:
Tyler Baron
Octavius Oxendine
Omari Thomas
Jay Hardy (AU commitment)
Reginald Perry
Damarjhe Lewis
Yaya Diaby (JUCO)
Without a doubt a huge area of need in this (and every) class, Tennessee has put itself in a position where it can either hit a grand slam or strike out. Bailey is a top-shelf product and a good anchor for the DL class himself, providing some positional versatility along the DL. He’s a guy you happily take in every DL class and has been solid since his commitment many months ago. From there, most of the board is relatively well-known. It seems unlikely that a scenario would arise in which Tennessee wouldn’t take Baron (who some might characterize as a pass-rushing OLB but from here projects as a DL fairly soon in his career), Oxendine, and Thomas. Those are all high-level SEC DL prospects who bring the kind of size and talent that Tennessee must continue to stack at the position. Baron continues to flirt with Kentucky and to a lesser extent OSU, but in the end it’s really hard to see him going anywhere other than Tennessee. Oxendine is another UT-UK battle that the Vols appear to be winning (right now), whlile Thomas is a UT-Ole Miss recruitment that will ultimately come down to head and heart (Tennessee) vs. logistics (Ole Miss) for the Memphis native. Hardy, who most know shocked everyone by committing to the Tigers instead of the homestate Vols, is also still a take – the Vols will likely try and quickly figure out what went wrong with a legacy who visited campus upwards of a dozen times and yet chose someone else. Whether it’s his position coach not being his main recruiter or simply not getting enough love if the staff felt he was in the bag (and by all accounts they had every reason to since he told them he was coming on multiple occasions), something happened and Tennessee needs to figure it out quickly. Perry is a good looking prospect in his own right – big and powerful yet not lacking quickness – who is visiting officially for the Vanderbilt game. The Vols will hope to have some clarity on at least a handful of other targets – at DL and other positions – before deciding how hard to push for him. Lewis is a former Auburn commitment who’s stock has dropped from where it was last spring but is still a possibility for the Vols depending on how the chips fall, and Diaby is a new offer from the JUCO ranks. Frankly, given that Tennessee loses seven(!) DL after the 2020 season due to graduation the idea of bringing in a guy who would only have one more year of eligibility after that doesn’t make a ton of sense unless the staff thinks he’s a future NFL player.
OLB
Current commitment:
Jimari Butler
Prospects:
Morven Joseph (FSU commit)
Jevon Banks (Mississippi State commit)
Simeon Barrow (Michigan State commit)
Jasheen Davis (WF commit)
Khari Coleman (Kansas commit)
Jonathan Horton
Sa’vell Smalls (Washington commit)
Butler is a guy who we’re very high on, and a nice recovery for Tennessee from an evaluation perspective after losing the commitment of BJ Ojulari to LSU. The Vols could use at least one more edge rusher/OLB in this class, and if they got the right combination of the above they’d likely take more than one. We broke down the board pretty thoroughly here, even before the Butler commitment, and not much has changed since. Joseph and Banks have both scheduled for their respective official visits to Knoxville for the Vanderbilt game, while the Vols have continued to try with especially Smalls as recruiting ace Brian Niedermeyer checks on him each time he heads out on his 5-Star West Coast tour.
ILB
Current commitment:
Bryson Eason
Martavius French
Tamarion McDonald
Prospects:
Len’neth Whitehead
Desmond Tisdol
Vai Kaho
Noah Sewell
One could make the case that only Eason will end up as an ILB from the committed group above, as French could easily project to the DL or even OLB while McDonald could end up playing some sort of Nickel/Money/Safety hybrid position. That said, all are high level who check a lot of boxes for the Vols. Whitehead and Tisdol are likely both Tennessee leans at this point (Tisdol has actually named the Vols as his leader) and also both multi-positional prospects who could play LB or RB, and both recruitments having seen ebbs and flows in terms of the Vols. Whitehead was thought to be close to committing to Tennessee when he took his OV for the Georgia State debacle, then was close to pledging the South Carolina over the last couple of months. However, with the turmoil in Columbia the Vols have sensed an opportunity and pounced, and right now Whitehead looks like Tennessee’s to lose. Whitehead has stated his preference for playing RB, and that’s where he’ll get his first shot; however, the money here is on him realizing quickly that he can be an All-SEC LB and the defensive minded Jeremy Pruitt helping him figure that out. Tisdol was also once a Gamecock lean, but that was after he was close to committing to Auburn first. Per 247Sports, Auburn coaches are particularly high on his potential at LB and the Tigers have tried to circle back to him since they lost the commitment of 5-star Trenton Simpson. Tisdol is also a good looking RB prospect. Again however, he likely has a higher ceiling in college at ILB, and ideally the Vols would land a higher level pure RB prospect. The question is whether or not there are enough spots to take both Whitehead AND Tisdol AND another pure RB. In terms of timing, Whitehead will likely make it back to Knoxvulle and then potentially commit before Tisdol’s OV the 12/13 weekend, though Tisdol could be incentivized to try and jump in ahead of him – Tennessee coaches will have to figure out how to manage all of that. In the meantime, Kaho has emerged as a legitimate target at ILB. Like Tisdol he’s on the shorter side in the 6’0-6’1 range, but the Nevada commitment from Reno has seen his stock rise of late. The Polynesian Bowl honoree is clearly not a firm Wolfpack commitment, as his official visit to Knoxville for the Vanderbilt game will have been preceded by an OV to Colorado in October. His brother Ale is a scholarship LB at Alabama, so distance is likely not a factor – additionally Ale is apparently universally thought to be underutilized in Tuscaloosa, so if they could “convince” him to take his talents to Tennessee by signing Vai we’d be all for it. Just sayin’. Sewell is a well-known prospect to UT fans and another of the 5-star players who Niedermeyer continues to try and keep the Vols involved with. Thought to be an Oregon-Georgia battle, Sewell is a freakish player whose brother plays for the Ducks as one of if not the best OL in the country. Obviously the Vols would prefer for him to stay out West should he not come to Knoxville, but they won’t stop trying to get Sewell back for an OV. He’s one of a few prospects for whom the Vols would 100% make room if he wanted to come.
DB
Current commitment:
Keshawn Lawrence
Mordecai McDaniel
Art Green
Prospects:
Kendall Dennis
Emmanuel Appiah (JUCO)
Ramon Henderson
Ronald Williams (JUCO)
Joel Williams
Tommy Wright
Decamerion Richardson
The Vols have a nice group of commitments so far in the secondary, with three players who could all potentially play multiple positions. Lawrence and McDaniel in particular are stud athletes and will bring a swagger to the Tennessee defensive backfield that has been building that with the additions of guys like Alontae Taylor, Bryce Thompson, and Jaylen McCullough. Green has had a somewhat subpar season that has seen his stock drop according to the recruiting gurus, but he’s an early enrollee with really good size who’s played both S and CB in Junior College so as long as the coaches are sold on him there is little reason to worry.
In a world in which numbers didn’t matter, it would make sense to add a 4th DB to this class. Obviously that’s not the case, so it’s quite likely that in order for any of the DBs on the board to be takes it will have to be in a Best Player Available situation. Dennis unofficially visited Knoxville a couple of times over the summer but has been thought to be an Auburn lean for a while now. He’s tentatively scheduled for an OV for the Vanderbilt game. Appiah is a relatively new addition to the board and is another DB who the Vols and Auburn could battle it out for. The NJ native is a close friend of Jarrett Guarantano and has had a huge season. He’s also an EE, which makes him a more attractive prospect as someone more likely to make a quick impact. He’s scheduled to visit the 12/13 weekend. Henderson is a relatively new name on the board and someone Tee Martin has been quietly working on. A guy who could play on either side of the ball, Henderson is another EE scheduled for the Vanderbilt game and the 4-star will decide between OU, Notre Dame, UCLA, Utah and the Vols. Ronald Williams has become a much more highly coveted prospect with recent offers from the likes of Alabama, while Joel Williams has been on the scene for a while and is a former UF commitment whose interest in and from the Vols has vacillated throughout the process. Neither those two nor Wright and Richardson – two other recent offers – currently have OVs scheduled to Tennessee right now.