Tennessee would have liked to hit a home run today as the first ever early signing period kicked off, but thanks to a coaching change and a short window for new head man Jeremy Pruitt, UT will have to settle for a ground-rule double.
Several notable junior college linemen elected to sign elsewhere Wednesday, but Tennessee still wound up with some major wins at key positions of need. They’re positioning themselves for a huge month of January that will require a whirlwind, a lot of swings at high-profile recruits and ultimately equal parts excitement and disappointment.
Wednesday appears to be a microcosm of that. The biggest loss was LSU commit and massive offensive lineman Badara Traore, who visited Knoxville last weekend and probably would have been a Day One starter. Instead, he chose to stick with the Tigers, with whom he’d built a long-term relationship.
Pruitt’s frantic jaunt toward the finish line will include plenty of wins and losses, but UT fans excited about the future of the Pruitt regime should focus on the wins. Tennessee has already received signings from punter Paxton Brooks, offensive lineman Ollie Lane, defensive lineman Kingston Harris, and offensive lineman Tanner Antonutti, offensive tackle Jerome Carvin, quarterback JT Shrout, and running back Jeremy Banks, and also expects receiver Alontae Taylor, defensive lineman Greg Emerson, tight end Jacob Warren, and defensive lineman Brant Lawless to sign as well.
We’ll have expanded capsules on everyone in the coming days here on Gameday on Rocky Top, but for now, let’s take a look at some of the big wins already today.
Jerome Carvin, 6’4″, 330-pound offensive tackle Memphis (Cordova HS)
It stung to the core for Tennessee not to ultimately get the signature of 5-star stud legacy Cade Mays, but landing Carvin helped ease that pain tremendously.
Carvin was thought to be leaning to Mississippi State still, even though Dan Mullen left for Florida. He almost certainly would have signed with the Bulldogs had Mullen stayed, and the coach tried to recruit him to Florida. But Pruitt has recruited Carvin heavily since arriving at UT.
Though Carvin couldn’t get a trip to Knoxville last weekend, he has a long-standing relationship with the university as a long-time target. He’s been there before, and he’s been considering the Vols for a long time. When buddy and teammate Jeremy Banks decided on Tennessee, it made sense for Carvin to go, too.
He’s a big, brawny lineman who can step right in and compete for playing time on a porous unit. Carvin isn’t an elite prospect, but he has the size and strength to be a very good one. Once he learns footwork and mechanics, such as hand placement and a dropstep, he’ll be a good one. He’s going to get some great coaching from Will Friend, too.
JT Shrout, 6’3″, 190-pound quarterback Newhall, California (William S. Hart HS)
Tennessee got its man.
Although Pruitt and Co. tried to hang onto Adrian Martinez despite him not being an ideal fit for what he and Tyson Helton want to do offensively (Helton didn’t recruit him to USC), he ultimately signed with Nebraska on Wednesday.
Pruitt offered another Cali quarterback, and he’s one-for-one in offers/commits. The Vols got a last-minute visit from Shrout last weekend, he said he had an “outstanding” visit and ultimately decommitted from the Bears last night and chose Tennessee today. That’s a testament to what kind of recruiting this staff is capable of, especially considering Shrout had been committed to Cal since last summer.
It took Pruitt a week to swing him, and the lure of playing SEC ball at a big-time program was too much to pass up.
Shrout has all the tools, including pristine mechanics and a live arm. He’s got the size, and though he needs to add weight, he has the frame to do so. Obviously, his 25 interceptions a year ago is a major red flag, but he’s got coachable attributes. They’ll have to teach the kid discernment, but he is a pro-style quarterback, and it looks like that’s the type of offense UT wants to run.
So, that gives him a leg up potentially on the other underclassmen on Tennessee’s roster.
Jeremy Banks, 6’2″, 216-pound running back, Memphis (Cordova HS)
With schools such as Nebraska, UCLA, Miami, Iowa State and Florida knocking down his door, it’s hard to understand why Banks was never on Tennessee’s radar with the previous staff.
Pruitt prioritized the big back since coming on, and the Vols parlayed that love into a commitment from the in-state product. He and Carvin make two big pledges from the Volunteer State.
With the Vols already set with smaller, speedier backs in Ty Chandler, Tim Jordan and Carlin Fils-aime, they needed a load-carrier. Banks looks like that guy. Though UT commitment Anthony Grant won’t be part of this class, Pruitt decided to go in a different direction with who he thought would be an every-down type guy. He quickly zeroed in on Banks (a 247Sports composite 3-star player who is a 4-star on Rivals).
Banks visited last weekend rather than go to Florida, and he came away from Rocky Top knowing that’s where he wanted to spend the rest of his amateur career. He’s a big coup for UT in a relationship that was built quickly but firmly.
