re: Tennessee Football Recruiting

List from 247 this morning

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'16
CB Nigel Knott
LB Jaleel Laguins
CB Chad Clay
OT Scott Lashley
WR Diondre Overton
DE Chidi Okonya
OT Brodarious Hamm
DE Jordan Smith
OT Devin Cochran
DE Jimmie Taylor
S Ikenna Okeke
LB Tyrone Hopper
RB Josh Johnson
QB JaVaughn Craig
APB Quinton Baker
ATH TaDarryl Marshall
WR Jair Anderson
TE Stephen Omorogbe

'17
ATH Maleik Gray
RB Cordarrian Richardson
RB Kurt Taylor

'18
ATH Mike Jones Jr.
QB Allan Walters

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I think he's leaving a few off because I know Cade Mays was here.

From an LSU 247 poster regarding Emmitt Gooden

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Wont be making it to LSU today. Was confirmed to visit on a private invitee prospect day (only 3 prospects invited) and phoned the staff this morning to confirm he won't be making it in.

Vols, this Cat is a good one and he's your's to lose. Goodluck and beat that Bama arse next year

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Jarrett Guarantano

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However, the next month or so will be used to get to know other programs better, and it will begin with a March 21 trip to Tennessee.

“I’m going to spend two or three days there,” Guarantano said. “I’m going to get to talk to the new offensive coordinator, coach (Mike) DeBord, and go over some offensive concepts and stuff.”

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Scout

UT, Oh St, and Rutgers standing out.

Bj Emmons

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“The coaching staff, they like me a lot,” said Emmons, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 114 overall prospect and No. 6 running back in the 247Sports Composite for the 2016 class. “They make you feel like you’re wanted. Of course, somebody’s going to go where they’re wanted, so I came down here to check it out. … I enjoyed my day.”


“I actually had more time to look at the facilities,” Emmons said. “They got new stuff, so that’s always an eye-opener — walking in and seeing a big screen that you haven’t even seen before. Just coming in here and seeing everybody, it just gives you a good feeling, a good vibe. It’s all great down here.”

Emmons said he recently has been in contact with Tennessee running backs coach Robert Gillespie and assistant coach Mark Elder, and the Vols have made it clear to him that “they still love me.”

“Whenever I committed to Georgia, I kind of shut everybody out, really,” Emmons said. “But then I started listening to more people that were telling me to keep my options available because I’ve still got more time. I slid Coach Gillespie a (direct message on Twitter). I was like, ‘Y’all still recruiting me?’ And he was like, ‘Definitely.’

“From then, whenever he told me that, I knew I still had a spot here, and I knew they still wanted me. This is always a place where I could come to.”

While Emmons said Georgia is “where I’d be going” if he was making his final decision today, he’s still keeping his options open. And he’s not planning to end his recruitment any time soon.

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247

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Looks like Kendall could be flipping soon and quickly replaced with Jarrett guarantano

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yep

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On Austin Kendall

Don't be surprised if there's movement there. We are told by folks in state, in the South and, honestly, other areas of the country that Kendall is still looking around at places, Kentucky among them, and also that the Vols also with limited numbers want to keep looking to ensure they get the best possible player and fit. 

Jarrett Guarantano, for example, continues to have a strong relationship w/ the Vols. It's not just his dad's ties to Butch Jones; both parents have a strong rapport with Jones, and also Jarrett has hit it off well with new OC Mike DeBord. They spoke DeBord's first weekend on the job.

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John Brice

I'll fully concede when VQ chimes in tho.

What's up with the Kendall looking around action? I think he's going to be a really good player in the right system

Chad Clay

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Clay said Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio State and Florida make up his current group of favorites, and he enjoyed his relatively brief visit with the Vols on Saturday even more than either of his previous stops at UT.

“It was better than a game, because I got to spend more one-on-one time with (defensive backs) coach (Willie) Martinez and Coach Butch (Jones) and the rest of the staff,” said Clay, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 217 overall prospect and No. 21 cornerback in the 247Sports Composite for the 2016 class.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen the facility and everything, and it’s crazy. It’s beautiful, with all the new stuff up there at Tennessee.”

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Clay said he had heard about Tennessee’s state-of-the-art Anderson Training Center, but he hadn’t seen it in person during his visits for the Vols’ home games against Alabama and Missouri last season.

“I mean, I’ve heard about (Tennessee’s facilities), and I’ve heard from other recruits I’m friends with. We talk about it. Everybody talks about how nice Tennessee is now,” Clay said.

“That was my first time getting to see it in person. … It helped them a lot, because I had seen pretty much all the other schools.”

He said Tennessee has made him a high priority over the past several months.

“They seem like they really want me a lot, because they always ask me to come up there,” said Clay, who has received scholarship offers from more than 20 teams. “They seem like they really want me a lot, and they just really talk about playing me early. If I can do it, then they’ll put me in there early.”

While Clay said his previous trips to Knoxville had shown him that Tennessee has “probably one of the best” game-day environments he has experienced — “either the best or around the best” — he said that’s not the only reason he likes the Vols.

“I just like Tennessee, of course, football-wise,” he said. “But off-the-field-wise, Knoxville just seems like a great place to live. I like the campus. I love the people up there, and just the environment around Tennessee football. They’ve got some of the greatest fans in the world, and that’s always a good thing up there at the University of Tennessee.”

“Coach Butch, really, I think he’s getting Tennessee back to how (former coach) Phillip Fulmer had it. I think he’s getting Tennessee back to those days.”

Clay, who also went to Florida last month and has visited Georgia twice since Feb. 21, said he’s “definitely going to come back up for a spring practice or something” at Tennessee. And he’s currently hoping to decide on a college within the next few months.

“I’m planning on graduating early, so I’m going to probably make a decision by May or June,” he said, adding that he will narrow his focus to five finalists sometime before then. “I’ll be probably just visiting my top schools (before then), and then, after visiting my top schools with both of my parents and all the coaches, I’ll make a decision then.”

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247

Austin Kendall decommits

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As John said yesterday, this was just a matter of time before it became official. Here's what Kendall had to say:

After many discussions I decided that TN might not be the best option for me. I think committing early was the right thing to do at the time but it also limited my options. With my recruitment back open I hope to see what other opportunities are available. I really don't have anything else to say.

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- VolQuest

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We hinted at this yesterday, so it certainly doesn't come as a complete surprise. We started hearing yesterday that things were headed in this direction.

While it might seem a bit concerning for Tennessee to lose a four-star quarterback, this was much more of a mutual decision than it might appear on the surface. Things between UT and Kendall had gotten a bit complicated on both sides, with Kendall still exploring other options — most notably Kentucky, where his older brother is a walk-on wide receiver — and the Vols obviously still involved with at least one or two other QBs, including four-star Jarrett Guarantano.

It sounds like Kendall didn't really want Tennessee to continue recruiting other quarterbacks, and I don't think the Vols felt comfortable with that, given the uncertainty of his situation. I've even heard from a couple of people close to Kendall's recruitment that it was entirely possible that Kendall would have ended up at Kentucky, anyway, if the Wildcats had placed his brother on scholarship. With that still being a realistic possibility, I don't think Butch Jones and his staff believed it would have been a wise decision for them to stop recruiting other QBs while Kendall considered other schools.

It's certainly better for Tennessee to be dealing with this now rather than in October or November, so I don't think this will be a fatal blow at all for the Vols' class. Being back in the market for a QB will open other options that weren't previously in play for UT, and I think Tennessee is a strong contender for Guarantano going into his scheduled trip to Knoxville later this month.

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247