re: Tennessee Football Recruiting

In response to the Bridges decommitment, I think we replace him with this guy pretty soon.

Daniel Bituli

From an interview with 247 on Jan. 25:

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"UT and Ole Miss are still on top right now. After this visit, UT is on top now,” said Bituli, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 116 overall prospect and No. 8 outside linebacker in the 247Sports Composite for the 2016 class.

“Just everything UT has to offer is amazing. The coaches, I see that they talk to each other like they’ve known each other their whole lives, and I respect all the coaches. I was able to talk to some of the players at UT, and they’re super cool. And I absolutely love the fans at UT. I love the fans.”

The 6-foot-3, 227-pound Bituli attended two of Tennessee’s home games last season, most recently returning for the Vols’ home finale Nov. 22 against Missouri.

But he said his latest trip to Tennessee allowed him to spend more time with coach Butch Jones’ staff, take a closer look at some of the Vols’ facilities and attend their men’s basketball game Saturday afternoon against Texas A&M.

“I wanted to be able to talk to all the coaches and get to know them as people. It was fun,” said Bituli, who has added scholarship offers from Oklahoma, Auburn, South Carolina and Ohio State within the past 10 days. “I checked out the football facilities. We basically went to the stadium and took some pictures and ate.

“I pretty much got to see the whole football facility. I got to see the training center, the workout room, the indoor football field, the outdoor football field, the Peyton Manning Room — just everything in that area.

“I was able to talk to coaches I haven’t met yet and sit down and talk to other coaches more than I did before.”

He said he “was able to talk to every single coach” on Tennessee’s staff.

“(Jones was) talking about the building process at Tennessee and where they would see me at if I did go to UT — just stuff in general like that — and, if I was to go there, what my schedule would be and stuff like that. It was good to know,” Bituli said. “I’d of course play linebacker (at Tennessee), but we’re still discussing on whether I’d play inside or outside.”

Bituli said linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen, who’s serving as his primary recruiter for the Vols, already has developed a “really good” relationship with him.

“That’s my boy,” Bituli said. “We just talk about everything. He’s my favorite coach by far.”

Bituli said he’s hoping “to head back to Ole Miss” in the near future, “and I want to go to LSU” after getting an offer from the Tigers almost six months ago. He said he’s also likely to return to Tennessee sometime “soon.”

While he’s not ruling out the possibility that he could decide on a college within the next few months, he said he’s not rushing to end his recruitment.

“I want to visit a couple more schools, and then I’ll be making my decision,” Bituli said. “I think I will be deciding sometime during football season, but anything can happen before or after.”

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