Tennessee Football: Updates for the Vols on NSD

National Signing Day is finally here. The Volunteers have a chance to get a good recruiting class under first year head coach Jeremy Pruitt.

The Tennessee Volunteers need to have a big day on National Signing Day. It is key for Pruitt and the rest of the staff to have a big day on Rocky Top in their first offseason. It has been hard for the staff to be able to gain relationships in such a short time period, but the Volunteers are still in the hunt to sign those players.

A few of the recruits that Tennessee has heavily recruited are set to announce later today, but some have already announced.

This Morning

Long time running back commit Anthony Grant flipped from Tennessee to Florida State this morning. Grant officially visited the Seminoles last weekend, so there had been some speculation that he would end up signing at Florida State. Baring any surprises, it looks like Jeremy Banks will be the only running back signed in this class for the Volunteers.

Despite losing out on Grant, the Volunteers have signed four players so far. This morning, John Mincey signed with Tennessee. Mincey had been trending towards the South Carolina Gamecocks, but signed with the Volunteers.

Cedric Tillman also signed with the Volunteers this morning. It was unexpected and also might mean some recruits sign elsewhere. Tillman is a wide receiver from Las Vegas, and was offered by Tennessee a few days ago. Tillman was likely offered when the Jordan Young  situation went down. Young and Copeland are set to sign later today so it will be interesting to see where they end up.

Defensive back Trevon Flowers also signed with the Volunteers this morning. Flowers showed up late in the recruiting process, but was offered by Tennessee and Clemson. Flowers officially visited Rocky Top this weekend, so it was no surprise that he ended up signing with the Volunteers.

The Volunteers signed Joseph Norwood this morning as well. Norwood was a surprise signee. Norwood was offered by the Volunteers this morning, and that took him by surprise.

Norwood didn’t play football as a junior, but had an outstanding senior season. Norwood is in-state, as he is from Chattanooga.

This Afternoon

The Volunteers missed out on 5-star linebacker Quay Walker this afternoon. Walker was committed to Alabama, but had heavily considered Tennessee and Georgia over the last few weeks. It looked like Walker was getting ready to sign to the Volunteers but disrespected them as he threw the Tennessee hat and flipped to the Bulldogs.

Jordan Young announced earlier that he flipped to Florida State. That makes two former Tennessee commits now that have flipped to Florida State today. Young’s first big offer was from Tennessee, but got more attention once the Volunteers offered him. Young also visited the Seminoles this weekend with Grant. If it wasn’t for Tennessee offering Young, he likely wouldn’t of ended up at Florida State.

J.J. Peterson has decided to stay with Tennessee. This is huge for Pruitt and the staff. Peterson and Walker are good friends, so there had been some speculation that they wanted to play together. Peterson is a 4-star, and is rated #48 nationally and the #3 overall outside linebacker.

Olaijah Griffin has decided to stay out west and play at USC. The Volunteers had made a late push for him to come to Tennessee, but couldn’t get him to come out to Tennessee. Despite losing Griffin, the Volunteers still have a chance to land Isaac Taylor-Stuart, Eddie Smith and Taiyon Palmer.

Taiyon Palmer, who visited on January 26th, signed earlier to N.C. State over Tennessee. Palmer was ranked as the #280 overall recruit in the 2018 recruiting class.

Wide receiver target Jacob Copeland signed with Florida early today. Copeland had been committed to the Gators, but de-committed a while back. He wasn’t heavily considering the Volunteers, but ultimately decided on the Gators. His commitment was strange, as it looked like his mom stormed off after he announced he was going to Florida to play.

Tennessee announced earlier that Kurott Garland signed with the Volunteers. Garland is a 3-star defensive lineman out of Georgia. Garland finished with an impressive 125 tackles and 12.5 sacks during his senior season.

https://twitter.com/vol_football/status/961339736362291200

4-star Emmit Gooden finally signed with the Volunteers. Gooden was a JUCO, and had heavily considered the Volunteers back when he was in high school.

Brandon Davis, who committed to the Volunteers a few days ago, signed his NLI. Davis was very underrated coming out of high school, so hopefully Pruitt and staff have a found a diamond in the rough type player.

The Volunteers missed out on Isaac Taylor-Stuart, a highly touted cornerback out of California. Like Griffin, Taylor-Stuart had been heavily recruited by the Tennessee staff ever since they arrived. It was hard for them to pull these recruits off the West Coast, as both of them ultimately went to USC.

Final Thoughts

This was a very hard recruiting process for the Tennessee staff. It was difficult for Pruitt and the rest of the staff to establish relationships with these recruits. It was hard for the Tennessee to beat out other teams for these recruits when Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Alabama’s Nick Saban had been able to build relationships for a much longer time.

The future does look promising for Pruitt though. He is a well known recruiter, and if you give him enough time, he will get a great class together.