Although this coming weekend will be the second official visit weekend of Coach Jeremy Pruitt’s tenure, it will be the first one that features numerous uncommitted prospects. And with a list incredibly long on both talent and, due to the number of JUCO players, experience, it’s an incredibly important one. The new early signing period makes it that much more important, because for some players it’s their last visit before they make a final decision on where they’ll sign in just one week, while for others it’s Tennessee’s final on-campus chance to make a big impression with just under one more month (and likely trips to see other schools) until the second and final signing day. In a welcome stroke of luck, Thompson-Boiling Arena will have 20,000 screaming Volunteers packed in as they root on the Basketball Vols vs. UNC. Those kind of things are small, but showing kids, especially who aren’t from the South like many of the incoming prospects, how rabid this fanbase is, always helps.
Below is a quick look at this weekend’s visitors:
Confirmed commitments for the weekend
Jacob Warren/Ollie Lane – Warren and Lane are longstanding local commitments who plan on signing in December and enrolling in January. Both are solid prospects who ideally would redshirt in 2018. However, given the dearth of bodies and proven depth at their respective positions both could be in line for snaps in their freshmen season should they take advantage of being in for Spring Practice and summer workouts. With the large number of uncommitted prospects on campus it will be good to have All Orange guys helping peer recruit
Important Unofficial Visitor
OL Jerome Carvin – Pending logistical details being worked out, Carvin is trying to get back to Knoxville for another visit after taking his OV back in late September for the UGA game. While it will obviously be much better if he can make it, his desire to do so (especially in lieu of previous plans to try and get to UF) is a great sign. If he can make it in I think he’s on Commitment Watch. If not we might have to wait a few more days, but I still think this is trending towards the good guys
Confirmed Uncommitted Official Visitors
All of the remaining confirmed official visitors are prospects the new staff has either offered or reoffered – regardless, they are all players the prior staff was not involved with. We discussed the status of their respective recruitments in this piece, and suffice it to say that the Vols would very likely take a commitment from almost any and all of them if they get the chance. The group is a good mix of high school players and JUCOs, and each of them play at a position of need.
Uncommitted: December Signees Confirmed for this Weekend
OL Badara Traore – #1 JUCO OL and current LSU commit, this is a new development but one that makes some sense. He’s not only teammates with Johncarlo Valentin (below) but as an LSU commit he’s also got ties to new UT staffer Austin Thomas, former GM for the Tigers. Assuming he follows through with the visit, and you can be sure LSU will do everything they can to stop it, one has to think UT has a great shot here. One other side note is that LSU has just hired a brand new (albeit well regarded) OL coach, which means Traore has no better relationship with his position coach there than he does with UT coach Will Friend
RB Jeremy Banks – Teammates with Jerome Carvin, Banks would be a big add at the RB position due to his size and production. He’s on my Commitment Watch list
RB Greg Bell – One of FOUR teammates from Arizona Western C.C. coming in this weekend, two of which are December signees and early enrollees. UT’s biggest competition appears to be Nebraska, where he has already OV’d along with Louisville (where has was committed), Boise, and Utah. His is an interesting situation, as it is unclear how tied together these four teammates’ recruitments are. At the same time, Tennessee’s only current RB commitment, Anthony Grant, is far from solid (he’s OV’ing Virginia Tech this weekend), so how many RBs the staff is going to take it up in the air. All things equal my preference for one RB spot would be for Banks over Bell, but there are likely a lot of things happening in the background…
WR Jaron Woodyard – Another of the quartet from AWCC, Woodyard is actually committed to Nebraska but will be taking his trip to Knoxville this weekend anyway. Numbers are WR are fluid – with Alontae Taylor back in the fold there is still room for at least 1-2 more, but the pecking order is unknown. Copeland (below) is a clear take, but that recruitment is likely to go into late January. Is Shocky Jacques-Louis (also an early enrollee) back in play after Pruitt and Helton were in his home last night? Like Bell, how much does Woodyard play into the recruitment of his teammates? As The Dude would say, lotta ins, lotta outs…
TE Dominick Wood-Anderson – A true national recruit, Wood-Anderson is regarded as an instant impact TE prospect and is highly coveted by the likes of Alabama, Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher, and other bluechip programs. He’s the jewel of the AWCC Four, and landing him might be a stretch – just getting him on campus represents a pretty big coup, this one orchestrated by new staffer (brought by Pruitt from Alabama) Brian Niedermayer. However, it’s 100% worth the effort, and he’s an instant starter if he signs with the Vols, a selling point Pruitt and Co. will be hammering home all weekend.
Uncommitted: February Signees Confirmed for this Weekend
Each of the players below are high value targets, not just because of their talent but also because each of them play positions where there is a big need on Tennessee’s roster. The list below is a mix of high school and JUCO prospects, most of whom we’ve taken a look at in the linked piece above. As noted, it’s imperative that the Vols make a very big impression on these prospects, as each of them will wait until February to sign.
WR Jacob Copeland
OL Jahmir Johnson
OL Johncarlo Valentin
TE Glenn Beal
DE Kingston Harris*
CB Olaijah Griffin*
*Two relatively new offers
Harris is a DL from IMG Academy in Florida with a decent offer list who Pruitt just offered and is immediately coming to Knoxville for an OV. My guess is that he’s lower on the board, but we’ll see
Griffin is a borderline 5-star CB from California who received an immediate offer from the staff, has seen Nidermayer in his home, and is now going to be on campus this weekend. Interestingly, Griffin has a lot of family in East TN and has spent quite a bit of time in the area, so he’s not the typical Cali kid for whom the likelihood of leaving the West Coast is ultraslim. He’d be a bigtime get, and although he’s probably not going to commit on the spot if the Vols can make a big impression this weekend they could find themselves in the mix for the next month