Tennessee Football: Predicting Who The Vols Sign On NSD

National Signing Day is just over a week away. Here’s a look at who we think the Tennessee Vols will sign on February 7.

The Tennessee Vols have just over a week to lock down some of the top high school talent in the nation.

Tennessee signed 14 players during the early signing period in December. It’s unclear exactly how many spots they have left to fill in their 2018 recruiting class, but our best estimate is that they have 8 spots to fill. Obviously that’s a fluid number.

Before we get to some predictions on who the Volunteers will sign next week, I want to mention three-star cornerback Brandon Davis.

Davis tweeted on Monday that he is now committed to Tennessee, but I don’t think he’s going to be one of the eight that UT signs on National Signing Day. If he does indeed end up in Knoxville, I think it’s as a walk-on.

Here are the eight players we think Tennessee will sign on National Signing Day.

• Quay Walker — OLB — 5-Star
• Olaijah Griffin — CB — 5-Star
• JJ Peterson — OLB — 4-Star
• Jordan Young — WR — 4-Star
• Taiyon Palmer — CB — 4-Star
• Jashaun Corbin — RB — 4-Star
• Otito Ogbonnia — DT — 3-Star
• John Mincey — DE — 3-Star

Landing Walker and Griffin would obviously be huge for Pruitt and the Volunteers. In fact, anything after that (in terms of new pickups) is pretty much gravy.

I think Eddie Smith ends up at Alabama. It just feels like it’s trending that way and I’ve been around long enough to know that when things trend toward Bama this late in the cycle, it typically goes their way. But getting Palmer would somewhat make up for missing out on Smith.

Another miss for Tennessee will likely be Glenn Beal. I think he ends up at Texas A&M. That’s not a huge loss because the Vols signed two tight ends in December (Jacob Warren and JuCo transfer Dominique Wood-Anderson). Of course, Beal could end up being a contributor on the defensive side of the ball.

I think Florida ends up signing Jacob Copeland and I think Isaac Taylor-Stuart stays on the west coast and ends up at USC.

As far as the running back situation goes, that’s an extremely fluid situation at the moment. I think Anthony Grant ends up flipping to Florida State or Virginia Tech. The Vols, however, are in decent shape with Jashaun Corbin. They get his final visit before National Signing Day.

Even with a few misses, I think this would be a fantastic finish for Tennessee’s 2018 recruiting class. If this is how it pans out, then Vol fans should be ecstatic at the job Pruitt and his staff did in two months.