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

Can you feel it? Thousands of grown men across the country are waiting for little bits of news that will lead them to jump around like little boys on Christmas or cuss like sailors predicting young men will spend their lives pumping gas because they did not pick the right school. At no other place in the world are the decisions of 17 year old athletes so deeply and far reaching in there effect.

On February 1st players will have their first opportunity to sign a binding letter of intent with their respective schools. Most of the time all of them will sign on that day. On occasion a recruit will withhold signing to give him more time to make a decision. Of the commits we have if they are going to sign with us they should sign on that day. We are likely to have a spot left open after signing day to either use next year or go after some of the hold outs.

Traditionally, the real info on signing day recruits leaks either Monday night or Tuesday. It is at that point kids phone their coaches and tell them yes or no. The coaches then leak the info to friends and people in the office and then it gets reported on the internet. I will update this blog accordingly when such info comes out.

We did have some commits this week for the class of 2013. I am not going to give full bios today. We have plenty of time for that over the next year. Lets just say Dooley is locking down Memphis and TN for 2013. For now, I am focused on the 2012 class and will remain so until after signing day.

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

Dalton Santos LB TX-. Santos has had a busy week. He was visited by just about every coach Texas has and Sunseri and Joseph from UT. He went on a visit to Texas this weekend with his father. Most expect him to commit to Texas. He has not as of today. Texas fans are not excited about him. The coaches at Texas are rumored to have told him he is a DE. Santos has said multiple times he wants to play MIKE. The evibe is Santos has calmed down from the initial Texas offer and wants to be a VOL. His father wants him to be a Horn. His mother posted on FB she would support him no matter what his decision this Sunday. I have not heard anything from cousins are family pets but I am digging. UPDATE: Santos is a Horn it is official.

Otha Peters LB LA- Otha visited Arkansas this weekend without his mother. He said the standard nice things a recruit says on a visit. He did tweet something at 3am that was likely alcohol induced. It caused Vol fans concern. However, the info, as of today, points to him being a VOL. I would say you should be worried here but nothing to freak out about yet. UPDATE: Otha is telling Arkansas writers he has a decision to make while telling the VQ he is all VOL. Otha is a Hog.

Alton Howard A.K.A “Pig” WR FL- He has reconfirmed his commitment to the VOLS as of today all signs point to him sticking with the VOLS. UCF is going to go after him until the end however.

LaDarrell McNeil S TX- The info points to him being a Vol. A recruit normally would
of flipped by now if he was going to post visit.

Davante Bourque RB LA- Bourque gave fans some concern after committing when he decided to take a trip to Miami. He has reconfirmed his commitment to the VOLS and all info leads one to believe there will be no more issues.

Daniel Gray CB FL- Gray has claimed multiple times this week he is all VOL. If he does not come here it will be a grades issue.




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. He visited VT this weekend without his parents from reports. The info here has been scarce. I would look for news to break Tuesday regarding his school of choice.

Justin Shanks DT AL- Shanks is currently committed to FSU. He came last 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. Shanks visited with FSU this weekend. The evibe is until Goldman (5 star DT)picks a school we will not know what the musical chairs of DT recruiting will bring.

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. It does not look like he will be a VOL but it does look like a Bama and Gtech battle for him.

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. Bryson has committed to MTSU. The feeling is if we offer he would come but it seems unlikely he gets an offer.

Jacoby Briscoe DT LA- There is no information that leads me to believe we are recruiting this kid. Bourque evidently tried to turn him on his trip to Miami. The problem is we have not offered and no information is out there that says we are even interested. He did not visit here and there is no news of mutual interest.


The DB recruits.

Amos Leggett DB FL- The 9th ranked DB on rivals. He visited here this weekend. He is committed to Marshall because he had some grade concerns. He got a qualifying score on the ACT recently. He loved his trip here this weekend and is going to go home and discuss with family. He has not committed to us yet. He is 6’ ish and about 180 lbs.


Devian Shelton DB CA- Shelton may or may not still have a commitable offer from us. Shelton is committed to Oregon State. 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. The internet has lost so much interest in him we are not even sure if he visited this weekend. He is deciding on signing day. It is likely a Nebraska, UW and Oregon State battle.


The WR recruits.

Demetrius Wilson WR AZ- Wilson is a JUCO player who visited us this weekend. He has declared us his leader last week. 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. Wilson opened his mouth on his visit to Arky and it became clear why this kid became a JUCO I doubt he can stay eligible at this point. "In my opinion, the SEC is a little bit more speed and more athletes that head to that league and play big.* Both schools are great schools.* *But Arkansas, I'm looking at how they have a better football program than Tennessee." I would not get that upset about losing a JUCO WR they honestly rarely work out. He attempted to commit to Arkasas but they have not accepted his commitment. UPDATE: Arky accepted his commitment.


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, and UT. He eliminated USClite this week. He is not a burner and that is what has some teams backing off. He has 4 stars and is about 6’3’’ 180. This is a very smart kid that seriously considers academics as a primary reason to pick a school. We are the leader for him in the clubhouse. His trip would be considered an A by all reports. His mother came with him and he heard everything he wanted to hear. He will announce at noon at his HS in SC on signing day.

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. 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. He is supposed to inform coaches of his decisions Tuesday. We are in this one but no one knows what his kid will decide. UPDATE: Patterson told Hinshaw he was leaning towards being a VOL on Friday during an in home visit. The staff is so gun shy of JUCOs they are not taking his word for it.


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. The vibe here is Richie is not coming to UT. He lists us as a school of interest in every interview. He did not visit OM this weekend. I would not eliminate us as Richie has not but no positive info to report.

Chase Robinson OLB/DE TN- Robinson has been committed to Texas Tech for awhile. The memphis native has offers from Louisville and UNC amongst others. He is extremely quick but does not have that 5th gear. Dooley visited him this past week. I would not be surprised to see him in Knoxville this weekend. He is a 3 star DE on rivals. He is 6’4 220. He decided not to come to Knoxville this weekend.

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. He will likely go beyond signing day to decided where he wants to go. We did contact him this week.

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. Auburn is reportedly going after him now.


OL and RB recruits.

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.