If it's on the internet, it's true: Jewbaccah's recap

Attachment 517

Then internet has been a buzz with the recent coaching turnover at UT. In the background UT coaches have been working diligently to land UT a few more prized recruits while keeping the ones we have on the line.

Before I begin let's be clear I am not an insider nor am I offering any information that is solid or guaranteed to happen. This is rather a collage of all the information on the internet that gives crazed fans some insight into who we might land on signing day.

Lets take a look at the guys we had hooked but may be trying to wiggle free.

Dalton Santos LB TX- Santos is considered a prized recruit. He has been a very vocal VFL. However, he is taking visits and did cancel his visit here this weekend. Time to freak out? Actually no, he has been to UT twice already and Sunseri will be in his home Monday or Wednesday. He has visits planned to Arkansas and Texas A&M but if all goes well with the in home would not surprise me at all to see those visits cancelled. Of course, I reserve the right to freak out if and when new information comes available.

Otha Peters LB LA-There really is not much to say here. The meltdown will occur the day LSU gets serious about him. He seems solid. He visited here with his mother and has said he does not care about the coaches who left he loves the VOLS. Peters is considered the most likely to play as a freshmen amongst our LB recruits.

Danny O’Brien DT MI- Everyone can breath easy Danny was here this weekends. He was here this weekend and recruiting for us. He was all over Kirven a DT from Virginia we want very badly. There is no information as of today that should cause anyone concern.

Alton Howard A.K.A “Pig” WR FL- This little pig may go to market. UCF is a big player here. He has tweeted some things that may cause us some concern. At the same time he has not said anything directly that leads me to think he is gone. He will play slot WR and scat back if he comes here.He is one that has a chance to play early if he stays with the VOLS.

LaDarrell McNeil S TX- McNeil has been the recruit seen as most likely to leave us. It seems as of today he is solid. He brought his mother here this weekend and was sold on Sunseri. All info points to the visit going very well. We hope he will cancel other visits to OSU and Arkansas but even if
not him flipping seems very unlikely as of today. McNeil is projected to be in the 2-Deep from day one at safety.


These are the main guys. The BIG fish so to speak VOL fans have been worried about. There are of course other guys to worry about there is no reason to believe or info on leading me to think any others will leave. For example Justin King ATH and Jason Croom WR made it in on their visit and seem solid. I could see us telling a recruit there is no room for him. It is speculation at best to start guessing who that guy might be. Let us move on to the fish we hope to land.

Davante Bourque RB LA- As I type this he committed to the VOLS on his visit here. I would take this commit as very solid. Dooley and Joseph visited him in his home last week. Bourque wanted to commit then but Dooley being Dooley told him to wait until his visit. Bourque is an elite recruit. His grades seem good. He did enter High School late and had to go to summer school but no reason as of today to worry about him being admitted. He was considering Miami before his commitment as well. He was a long time LSU commit previously. He is a 4 star for star watchers. He is 6’3 200+ pounds. He has 4.4 40 type speed at that size.


With the Bourque commitment we have between 4-5 spots left available. We have 20 commits. Tino Thomas counts against this class so that makes 21. Some say Bullard would count against this class, but, as of today, I have not been able to confirm this as fact. Then there are substantial internet rumors Bullock the kicker we have accepted a commitment from will not take a scholly this year. That gets us back to 20 if true. We cannot back count any of our EEs this year.

The guys that seem most likely to fill the remaining spots are as follows.

The DL recruits.

Korren Kirven DT VA- This seems to be the top guy on our board. He is an elite DT recruit. He had an injury this year that kept him a little below the radar. He is deciding between VT and UT. Kirven was here this weekend. Dooley sat with him at the Kentucky game and it seems Danny
O’Brien was doing his best to bring him here. It is important to note he had canceled this visit but deciding to come when we hired Sunseri. He has a visit to VT next week. We are on wait and see status as of today. Fingers crossed. Kirven is a 4 star recruit. He is 6’4 270 lbs.

Justin Shanks DT AL- Shanks is currently committed to FSU. He came this weekend on an official visit. It seems to have gone well. Shanks may be influenced by the coming commitment of one Goldman DT from DC and a 5 star. If Goldman picks FSU we could pick up Shanks. Shanks is
another Sunseri greatly improves our chances with. He was being recruited by Bama as well. In fact, it was believed he may switch his commitment to Bama at certain points in his recruitment. Shanks is 4 Star recruit. He is 6’3 300 lbs.

D. Tomlinson DT GA- This guy was destined to go to Georgia Tech. Everyone wants him and Sunseri may have earned us a visit. There is nothing official yet here but he may come one of the next two weekends. If he does look out. He is very fast for his size. He is 6’2 280 lbs with 4 stars. I would think Sapp when trying to compare him to someone. He is very quick for his size according to the internets of course.

Bryson DT TN- This guys seems to be our fall back plan at DT. If we offer he will
commit. He was here this weekend and is very interested in being a VOL. He is from Humboldt, TN. 6’4 300lbs with 3 stars.

We will definitely take the top 3 guys listed above if they commit. If it means telling someone to walk we will. If all of them pass expect Bryson to get an offer. DT recruits are hard to come by and this class could be the best UT has had this century.

The DB recruits.

Devante Harris CB TX- This was a guy we wanted after he decommitted from OU. However, he committed to A&M today and is likely lost to us. Santos and McNeil were recruiting him for us and we were hoping to get a visit. He was the most highly rated CB on our list. 4 stars and 11th best CB in the country according to rivals.

Ronald Darby CB MD- This is the next guy on our list. He is another one we hope to get a visit from using the momentum from the Sunseri hire. He runs a sub 4.4 40 and is about 6’ tall. He has 4 stars and is ranked right below Harris. I would expect we will here something this week. Expectations would be he will go to FSU or Clemson.

Deion Bonner ATH GA- Bonner is likely the next guy we want. He is a very athletic S/CB tweener who can play RB and even return kicks. He had all the makings of being an elite recruit then he decided to steal some ipods from the UGA locker room on a visit. He was arrested on misdemeanor charges. He was caught because he tweeted the products for sale for all to see. He had at the time offers from all the big players and was UGA bound. He will visit next weekend. If he commits we should be very excited. I would not let his 3 stars fool you he is an elite talent from our most
important recruiting ground North Georgia. He is 6‘ about and is around 190 lbs. He has run a 4.4 40.

Devian Shelton DB CA- Shelton recently received an offer from us. We are trying to fill the spot vacated by Crawley who either decommitted or has grade issues depending on who you listen to on the internet. Shelton is committed to Oregon State. He will visit us next weekend. He has stated
he is look for better opportunities recently. Nebraska and Arizona are coming after him as well. He has 4 stars and is about 6’1’’ 190. It is telling though that USC nor UCLA has offered when he lives in their back yard Inglewood, CA.

It is the consensus according to internet sources we will take one more DB in this class to replace Crawley. I do not know if we would take two. Some say if Bonner commits we would not take Shelton but all of that is speculation.

The WR recruits.

Demetrius Wilson WR AZ- Wilson is a JUCO player who visited us this weekend. He has declared us his leader. He is 6’2 about and around 180 lbs. He runs a 4.4 40. He has very good stats in JUCO just as good as Patterson. He only has 3 stars but is being pursued by Arkansas and Arizona. If Petrino wants a WR it is telling. He has 3 years to play 2 if he comes to the VOLS.

Quinshad Davis WR SC- Davis has elite hands and route running ability. He has about a 4.0 in High School and is considering Wake Forest, UNC, USClite and UT. He only recently got his offer from USC. He is not a burner and that is what has some teams backing off. He has 4 stars and is about 6’3’’ 180. He will visit us next week or the week after. He wants us to be the last visit and plans on visiting UNC. This is a very smart kid that seriously considers academics as a primary reason to pick a school. No one really knows what he is thinking but kid could pick UNC or Wake based on
academics. Internet chatter has him leaning to Cocks simply because he lives in SC. This one seems to close to call right now.

Cordarrelle Patterson WR SC- Patterson is considered an elite recruit. He played with Worley in SC. He has stated over and over and again very recently he wants to go to a school that he knows he will play right away at. He has visited UGA, UT, Ole Miss, and Auburn. He is holding out his last visit to the highest bidder. Arkansas is considered a player here. There are rumors of him having grade issues. He was supposed to be an EE and already be at UT. He however did not get it done in the classroom. He seems frustrated at this point that no one will promise him playing time.
Hinshaw recently visited him and from internet rumors told him were not going to promise playing time. He has 4 stars or 5 stars depending on the service. He is 6’3’ and about 200 lbs with plenty of speed.

It is hard to get a read on what Dooley is going to do at WR. All of these guys could be takes or maybe he wants just one. Wilson seems like a sure bet if we want him as of today. We have 3-4 WRs already in this class.

The LB recruits.

Richie Brown LB MS- This guy showed up on the radar a couple weeks ago and has become one of the most wanted guys on our list. He is the size of an ILB with elite OLB speed. 6’2’’ 230 lbs. with somewhere between 4.4 and 4.5 40 time depending on the service. He was recruited by Sirmon so that hurts but still came on his visit this weekend. Our competition is Ole Miss, MSU and Southern Miss. He seems to like the Sunseri hire and expectation are growing we will land this kid.

Q Lambert LB NJ- This kid is a 4 star that has committed to Rutgers. He wanted to go to Bama but they ran out of spots by the time he had made his decision. He originally had a commitable offer from Bama. Rumors only at this point Sunseri may get him to visit.

Beniquez Brown RB/LB AL- Brown is an elite LB recruit all the big boys want him as a LB. The problem is he wants to be a RB. He is a solid RB recruit but not elite according to the experts. He is down to UT and MSU. Most think he is going to MSU due to his friend’s commitment there. The
Bourque commitment makes that more likely as of today. The only internet rumor that leads one to think otherwise is that his father is a UT fan and has been wearing UT stuff all over town. If we could get him here and get him to play LB scouts say he is NFL prototypical LB.


We would take both of the guys listed above. This is one position Sunseri could cause random names to pop up at as we get closer to signing day. We already have a solid LB class with Santos and Peters coming in but if we are going to run a 3-4 R. Brown is starting to look like a must get.

OL and RB recruits.

Jake Meador OT IN- Meador decommitted from Ole Miss when Nutt was fired. He has visited here already. We have not offered but we may. He has 4 stars and is 6’7’‘ 290. The big schools are not biting on this guy. I do not know what the issue is here but something is not right.

Overall it does not look like we have any OL recruits that are likely to get an offer or come here. However, Dooley is a very secretive recruiter and with the new Pittman hire who knows what will pop up over the next week or two.

At RB with the Bourque commitment we could be done. All of our targets are committed as of today absent B. Brown. I am sure some rumors will pop up here as well over the next couple weeks.


Everything above is as up to date as I could hope to make it when I typed it. The nature of recruiting is that it is fluid. Updated as of today could be out of date 5 minutes later. That is why recruitniks love it...it is the male soap opera that never ends. I did not address any 2013 recruits. I think it is best to leave that until after national signing day in February.

With Kindest Regards,

Jewbaccah