Phillip Fulmer

KNOXVILLE — With a ranking nowhere near the nation’s elite, Wednesday was an atypical national signing day for the Tennessee football program.

Not completely, though.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Volunteers signed Gerald Williams.

The 6-foot-4, 245-pound middle linebacker first signed with UT in 2005, but NCAA Clearinghouse issues forced him off campus and on a bizarre four-year journey that now has him at City College of San Francisco.

Williams made a one-year stop at Virginia’s Fork Union Military Academy in 2006 after staying at his Lauderdale Lakes, Fla., home during the fall of 2005 while trying to raise the standardized-test scores that seemed fine when he enrolled at UT that summer.

But he was forced out of Gibbs Hall in August 2005 and has only visited since.

“It was real, real difficult,” Williams said. “I just had to stay focused and keep my eyes on the prize. It was a big disappointment to have to leave the first time. Nobody wants to go all the way around the world to get to the school you want.”

That school has always been Tennessee, where Williams claims he will finally enroll for good this summer. He said he’s taking 18 hours this semester at CCSF and getting “good grades.”

“I’m done after this semester,” Williams said. “I’m taking my last credit hours right now, and I’m done. Everything’s on track as far as grades and everything. I’m just trying to finish out strong.”

With former UT starting safety Demetrice Morley re-enrolled in January, the Vols 2005’s highly touted South Florida trio of Morley, Williams and guard Vladimir Richard are close to finally being teammates.

“They’re two of my best friends,” Williams said. “But basically, the whole class of ’05 has stuck with me and kept in contact with me.”

So has Vols coach Phillip Fulmer.

“We all know about Gerald,” Fulmer said. “That’s been the most unbelievable story that I’ve been around in recruiting, as to how he has stayed the course and never wavered.

“I was really excited to get his fax again, and I think, without question, we’ll have him here in the fall. This summer, we hope.”

Williams said UT fans he doesn’t have e-mailed him over the years, encouraging him to “hang in there.”

“It lets me know that Tennessee fans are faithful and have stayed behind me 100 percent,” Williams said. “It makes me more excited to come to school. It makes me want to put my seatbelt on and enjoy the ride.”

Hughes another Harrell?

It’s growing increasingly more difficult for any high school prospect — particularly defensive tackles, who generally produce fierce recruiting battles — to fly under the radar.

But according to Scout.com national recruiting analyst Jamie Newberg, that’s precisely what happened with Montori Hughes, a 6-foot-5, 260-pound tackle who committed to UT seemingly out of nowhere two weeks ago and signed with the Vols on Wednesday.

“That kid’s a heck of a player that we obviously missed on early, there’s no question about it,” Newberg said of Hughes. “Right now, to me, he may be the best prospect in the state when it’s all said and done. And we just flat missed him.

“That’s hard to do today, just miss a guy like that, but we did. He’s a great pickup.”

Fulmer said Hughes, at this stage in his career, bears a striking resemblance to former Vols defensive tackle Justin Harrell, who transformed from a little-known recruit to a 2007 first-round NFL draft pick.

The Vols didn’t sign any other defensive tackles, though, which clearly frustrated Fulmer.

“We fell short in one particular area where we really tried hard, and that was to add a couple of big, dominant defensive tackles,” Fulmer said. “We fell short as far as numbers, but Montori Hughes we feel like is a guy we can develop into a really good defensive tackle.”

Two sports for two

Fulmer said he’d allow signees Casey Kelly and E.J. Abrams-Ward to play two sports at UT.

The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Abrams-Ward is football and basketball star at Thomasville (N.C.) High School, while Sarasota, Fla., quarterback Kelly is a potential first-round baseball draft pick.

“Casey was a guy that we really wanted to get,” Fulmer said. “His athletic ability, his intelligence, his work ethic, his demeanor as a quarterback are all very, very positive. Obviously, we’re going to have a challenge in waiting through the baseball draft. We hope to have him here in the fall.”

Fulmer said Vols coach Bruce Pearl “OK’d” Abrams-Ward’s desire to also try basketball, and “that’s fine as long as his academics are in order.”

“I knew E.J. was a good athlete from the tape, but I had no idea until I watched him play basketball just how good of an athlete he really was,” Fulmer said.