As next week brings All-Star Games, each game includes Vol signees and targets as well, with OL Darnell Wright and ILB Henry To’oto’to the prime prospects at the Under Armour All-America Game and All-American Bowl, respectively. Tennessee signees OL Wanya Morris and S Jaylen “Tank” McCullough will represent the Vols at the UA Game, while RB Eric Gray, WR Ramel Keyton and OLB Quarvaris Crouch will carry the Tennessee banner at the All-American Bowl, each looking to raise their own respective profiles as well as doing as much peer recruiting as possible.
While Wright is considered to be a Vol in everything but the signed LOI, the battle for To’oto’to is likely down to Tennessee and Alabama, and he plans on taking OVs to both in January. Greg Biggins of 247 Sports reported this week that there is buzz that, contrary to prior consensus opinion, the Vols could be in front at the moment. However, the Tide will certainly have its share of signees in his ear just like the Vols will, as they have 5 of their own at the game.
What will be newsworthy coming out of interviews and rumblings during the week at both games is what kind of traction Tennessee really has with targets like WR George Pickens and CB Kair Elam in particular. Both are 5-star level talents at positions of need for the Vols, especially WR, and the Vols appear to be in position to at least get an OV from each of them. However, Elam is the nephew of former Florida Gator Matt Elam star and has been to both UF and UGA campuses multiple times while to my knowledge never having been to Knoxville. So he seems like a severe longshot. With Pickens, while he is a longtime Auburn commitment for whom may think LSU is at worst a very strong 2nd place, the Tennessee staff obviously has strong ties to his Hoover HS and that recruitment is more of a wildcard, especially with him having already used his OVs to AU and LSU. Notably, both Pickens and To’oto’to will also be at the Polynesian Bowl (January 19th) along with Tennessee signee Jackson Lampley.
Perhaps the more likely WR possibility who will be at the UA Game is Arjei Henderson, the 4-star former OU (and Oregon) commitment who the Vols visited during the contact period and appears to have real interest in Tennessee. Henderson has good size at 6’1 and while he has a relatively slender build he possesses the kind of speed lacking in the WR room for Tennessee right now. is only OV currently scheduled is to FSU the 1/25 weekend, so what he says about the Vols will be illuminating.
FSU DB commitment Travis Jay and Mississippi State DL commitment Charles Moore are the two other prospects to watch at the UA Game, as Tennessee has tried to get involved with Jay and Moore has been an on-again off-again target for the Vols throughout the process. Odds favor both sticking with their respective commitments come February, but Moore in particular has been quoted as saying that among other January visits he is looking hard at Tennessee for one. Notably, it has been thought that the Vols backed off Moore due to a subpar senior season; however, he was one of the best DL on the Mississippi side all week leading up to the AL/MS All-Star game, looking more like the prospect he was his junior year. Auburn is probably a stronger contender at the moment though, as his good friend Jared Handy signed with the Tigers already.
Another name to watch as January rolls around and the Vols try to add to their board is DB Jamal Hill. Hill tore up the spring/summer 2018 camp scene, picking up offers from the likes of Alabama and Michigan among many others. He also shined at an OSU summer camp despite not earning a Buckeye offer. However, the chiseled 6’2, 190 lb player’s recruitment seemed to stall out a bit during the season despite a year-long performance that earned him a spot on the Georgia All-Regin 4-AAAAAA team alongside players like Alabama signee Justin Eboigbe and FSU signee Derrick McClendon, as well as Vol WR signee Jerrod Means. Although he likely projects as a physical, hard-hitting safety in college, it was noted by OSU writers that at the Buckeye camp he impressed with his coverage ability, showing the ability to break on the ball as well as closing speed. The speed is real, too, as Hill ran a 10.96 in the 100-meter dash during the spring. At that length and with that speed, he does fit the mold of a Pruitt CB, and having visited Knoxville for the UF game there is a bit of history in this recruitment. We’ll see if anything comes up here, but Hill could be an intriguing target and someone whose recruitment heats up in January (Oregon offered last week, for example).
While the odds of Tennessee signing current JUCO LB commitment Lakia Henry look increasingly slim, what happens with the other two unsigned Vol commitments – S Anthony Harris and DL Ledarrius Cox – will play a big role in not only how many spots are available for new additions to the Vol class but also which positions the Tennessee staff prioritizes.
Harris is a very talented prospect who showed put at Carolina Shrine Bowl practices but elected not to sign with Tennessee in December despite it being unclear which if any schools are pursuing and/or he might have interest in. Harris has not, however, received an inhome visit from Jeremy Pruitt, nor has he yet taken an OV to Tennessee. Therefore he could be a blueshirt candidate, making that recruitment that much more interesting.
Cox is a player whose commitment to Tennessee has been viewed as soft since the day he pledged, and many think he is very unlikely to ultimately sign with the Vols. However, he has maintained as recently as during the AL/MS Game week that he is solid to the Vols despite having January OVs scheduled to both Auburn – long thought to be the #1 flip candidate – and Ole Miss. He does also has an OV scheduled to Tennessee though (1/18 weekend), so the Vols have a chance to hang on should they want to. Like Charles Moore above, there have been questions about his senior season and how much Tennessee really does want to keep him; however, he did finish the season strong and earned first team 7A All-State honors and followed it up with multiple noteworthy performances during the aforementioned week of AL/MS Game practices. Given the need at DL for Tennessee it seems likely that the Vols staff will at the very least keep themselves involved here and then decide how hard to push pending what’s going on with other prospects, either DL or otherwise.