re: Class of 2018 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: So Long Old Friend Edition

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Alontae Taylor

Taylor has become one of the hottest commodities on the recruiting trail over the past few months. He has received offers from Notre Dame, Ohio State and Alabama in the past three weeks. In a tweet Taylor described the Alabama offer as a “childhood dream offer.”

The speedy wide receiver has always enjoyed the attention from other schools, even though he’s been committed to Tennessee for a year and a half. The flirtation has seemed to become a bit more intense over the past few weeks. He even changed his Twitter profile picture to him in a Notre Dame jersey for a few days last week.

RELATED: Tennessee commit Alontae Taylor looking at options in case Butch Jones is fired

Taylor wants to go somewhere he can make plays with the ball in his hands and has a solid relationship with the coaching staff. He has begun lining up visits in case coach Butch Jones is fired.

I imagine he would wait and see who the new coach is before he makes his final decision to play football.

Taylor has announced via Twitter he will make his decision at noon on Dec. 22 and take advantage of the early signing period. If Tennessee were to fire Jones and immediately hire his replacement, it doesn’t leave much time to build a relationship. The new coach would likely have approximately 20 days, if he’s lucky, to convince Taylor that Tennessee is the right place for him.

But it’s not like Tennessee doesn’t have something positive to hold onto. While Taylor has always talked with other schools, he’s never said he wasn’t coming to Tennessee.

The Vols’ wide receiver rotation is also extremely thin. It’s not crazy to think Taylor could be making plays by the second half of next season.

Taylor wants to be important in the offense sooner rather than later, which benefits the Vols

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