In his most recent podcast, Hubbs & Crew say: We are “solid” with Wanya Morris. 5* OLB Owen Pappoe (Score: 99, Pos: 1, Nat: 11) Pappoe has greatly upped his contact with Tennessee since the Auburn win, and as Wanya continues to recruit him. Says that it’s near daily contact with multiple coaches. Not saying we’ll land him, but that we are at least in the chatter. Rumblings that other schools like UGA and Bama are now looking at other kids at that spot now, instead of Pappoe - not because they don’t want / wouldn’t take him, but because they see it as coming down to TN or Barn, and that TN’s chances are much better if it’s just a 2-team race. 5* ILB Nakobe Dean (Score: 99, Pos: 1, Nat: 4) UGA is after him hard. 4* ILB Lakia Henry JUCO (Score: , Pos: 1, Nat: 4) We need to hold on to Lakia Henry. 4* OLB Henry To’oto’to (Score: 98, Pos: 2, Nat: 40) To’oto’to is going to come down between Bama and Tennessee. Bama is after him hard, perhaps as a replacement for Pappoe who they have moved on from. 3* WR JaVonta Payton JUCO (Score: 86, Pos: 3, Nat: 30) Javonte Payton backing off commitment to Ole Miss, still has an official visit to Tennessee coming up. Hubbs asked his crew how big of a priority he has become for us, and the answer is, “they’d like him to be the guy” and “I think he’s Tennessee’s #1 WR” 3* WR Jaylen Ellis (Score: 87, Pos: 71, Nat: 559) The Ellis kid who is currently committed to Baylor, they feel like he hasn’t been here yet (on an official visit), and won’t be a factor until / unless he does, and makes an official visit to TN. They believe that Ellis is #2 on the WR board behind Payton, insofar as priority at WR. 4* APB Eric Gray (Score: 91, Pos: 3, Nat: 210) Still committed to Michigan, but “no one believes he’ll end up there”. 4* DB Maurice Hampton (Score: 94, Pos: 14, Nat: 133) Still an LSU commit, has kept promising to come to Tennessee on an official, and still hasn’t. They think Tennessee could flip him, because they’re not batting many “upper echelon” teams for him. 4* OLB Kuony Deng (Score: 89, Rank: 1, Nat: 9) They agree that there’s not another Bogle on the board. They wonder if we are going to get the JUCO impact defensive linemen - the “kid from Independence” and “Dang” - on campus? Despite both having already gotten offers during Tennessee’s bye week, they don’t know if they can get them on campus. This is sort of the stream of consciousness in which the information flowed. If anyone wants to help me sort out who is who, I’ll update the post. General News & Notes: Wondered if TN feels a little better about LB spot now with Banks moving over. If we land the right corner, Taylor may move back to WR. Pruitt likes players that could be plugged in and play multiple positions - noted Anderson moving back and forth between Safety and WR. Hubbs asked if Tennessee would sign Payton or Ellis...and the response from his crew was that Tennessee “will sign both - don’t ask me how, but they hope to land both.” Tennessee feels good about Payton & Ellis, but both will still probably look to take officials elsewhere. Tennessee could have had WR Brown “six months ago”. Khafre Brown? They remarked on a rumor that both Hampton and To’oto’to may be coming in on an unofficial in December (To’oto’to would be coming from California). Hubbs concedes that if either of the two come in for unofficials, that he’d readily admit that “it would change things”. If taking Cox and Clemmons off the board, you better be able to replace them with better at that positon. Hubbs wondered if we make the same mistake we made last year with DB’s - chased filet instead of a ribeye and ended up with hamburger. Tennessee is currently at 20, and will already be counting some players forward to get to 25, anyway. Tennessee will be “counting forward until the end of time”. If we don’t land To’oto’to, that may free up space for a 6th offensive linemen, or two WR’s...or, as Hubbs went out of his way to inteject, to “free up a spot for a grad transfer QB”. Need to watch which guys make it in for Charlotte game, as that will be telling. Says that Pruitt places a heavy emphasis on senior year tape...and as more tape gets out, things can change. *Note: All emphasis, anywhere in this post, is mine. VolQuest podcast is publicly available and required neither a sign-in nor a subscription. I downloaded the podcast from the Apple Podcast store at the following link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/volquest-com/id1086686885?mt=2 Score, Rank and Nat Rank all taken from 24/7 public info, and which can be found at the following link: https://247sports.com/college/tennessee/Season/2019-Football/Offers/
Good post and thanks for the info. I hope our early signing class is strong. We need to get guys locked in and here asap.
Jordan Davis, he's from Memphis and committed to Alabama in 2018 but had to go the JUCO route, is a guy that Pruitt and company has jumped on. He's an elite defensive talent
I didn’t hear him mentioned or see that we’ve offered him. Did I completely miss him (entirely possible)?
