The Importance of the Tennessee Vols Having 2018 QB Recruiting Already Wrapped Up

With the Tennessee Vols no longer recruiting quarterbacks this cycle, it goes without saying that landing two blue-chippers in one class when you’re only going to have three scholarship QBs (max) on the roster this coming season is a big deal. Importantly, as QBs are often the face of a recruiting class when it comes to peer recruiting, having two (one on each coast) should be beneficial as well.  I expect both QBs to be active on the phones with offensive line and skill position players, and Penix in particular to work his home area hard for the Vols.  On that note, with the deep Florida ties already on staff in Scott and Beard to go with the 12 total players from the Sunshine State in the 2016 and 2017 classes, Penix can be a pied piper of sorts moving forward down there.  CB Jordan Miner, OT John Campbell, and WR Jacob Copeland (the biggest swing of the bunch) are three big time FL prospects who are getting a lot of attention from the staff and will be ones to watch between now and February 2018.

Additionally, while of course continuing to a) recruit both Penix and Martinez to ensure they don’t stray, and b) low-key keeping tabs on other QBs in case that does in fact happen, the Vols and Canales can concentrate their QB-recruiting focus on the 2019 class. Even better, Canales can do that NOW while he’s on the road evaluating, while other schools still working on their 2018 QB are preoccupied.  Canales will also be able to devote some time to pitching in with prospects at other positions instead of having to focus strictly on QBs. 

So as you can see there are multiple reasons to be very happy with the Vols already sewn up the QB position for this class.  Almost as importantly, relative to its two top rivals in the SEC East, UF and UGA, the Vols are in a great spot with the 2018 QB class.

UGA: It must be noted that UGA has not only Jacob Eason for two more seasons (for better or, hopefully, worse), they also have a 5-star early enrollee from the 2017 class in Jake Fromm already on campus.  However, they are absolutely trying to sign one and potentially two in 2018, and so far they have struck out (Side note: Can. You. Imagine. what Vol fans would be doing if UT had lost instate QBs the caliber of Emory Jones, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and Jarren Williams?  Would Neyland be a pile of rubble?  Would 3 new sports talk radio stations opened in Knoxville to serve the uproar? The mind boggles).  They are still trying with Fields and not giving up on Williams, but Williams has recently recommitted to UK.  UGA will end up with at least one QB in this class, but at this point it seems like a long shot that their QB class will be the equal of UT’s.  

UF: The Gators are nowhere near in as good of a position as UGA or even the Vols. Their current 2018 roster consists of Felipe Franks (bust of a freshman year followed by a half-decent spring); Kyle Trask (never started in H.S., poor redshirt season; couldn’t beat out Franks this spring before suffering a relatively major injury); and early 2017 enrollee Jake Allen (smallish, fairly disappointing senior season, nondescript spring).  They NEED a bluechipper in this class but they are running out of options.  UF also continues to try with Fields despite his PSU commitment, and they’ll also likely keep after Jarren Williams despite his recommitment to UK.  After that it gets as perilous as it does for UGA.  At this point it looks like UT will take another large step ahead of UF at the game’s most important position.

So here we sit in mid-May and the Vols have two big time QBs wrapped up, while its two biggest SEC East rivals are in a bad spot at the moment.  With as much recruiting momentum as the Vols have right now, this might be the best thing about the class so far.