Johnathan KongboTWO VOLS INVITED TO NFL COMBINE
Defensive end Curt Maggitt and wide receiver Marquez North were the only former Tennessee players on the NFL combine’s official participation list, which was released Thursday. The Vols had a 51-year streak broken last spring when no Tennessee players were selected in the NFL draft for the first time since 1963, though Justin Coleman (New England) and Matt Darr (Miami) had excellent rookie seasons after going undrafted but signing as free agents. The combine is in Indianapolis at the end of this month.
KNOXVILLE - Tennessee already had an exciting group of defensive linemen returning for 2016.
And that was before the Volunteers added a pair of potential immediate-impact players as part of their recruiting class.
Though they missed on a handful of defensive line targets from the high school ranks, the Vols still managed to land two of the country's best junior college prospects - end Jonathan Kongbo and tackle Alexis Johnson, who is already on campus as one of four early enrollees for the program.
Both players figure heavily into next season's plans.
"The defensive line is always hard to find," Tennessee player personnel director Bob Welton said on signing day. "You look around the country, and every school has that issue. It's hard here because most of those defensive linemen, especially this year, were in Louisiana, Georgia, places outside of Tennessee. That made it hard.
"Any time you put a class together, you want a great interior man and you want a great pass rusher, and I do think we got both of those guys."
Kongbo, the crown jewel of the Vols' 2016 class, was rated the No. 1 junior college player in the country by 247Sports and Rivals, which ranked Johnson 12th among junior college transfers.
The 6-foot-6, 260-pound Kongbo was born in the war-torn Congo, but his father, Joachim, moved his family to Canada when Jonathan was 5 years old.
He only began playing football his senior year at Holy Cross High School in Surrey, British Columbia, where he also played basketball and ran track. In his first football game, according to an August 2014 Casper Star-Tribune story, Kongbo - who also played running back and tight end - recorded sacks on four straight plays.
Kongbo signed with Wyoming and redshirted there in 2014 before transferring to Arizona Western College, where he had 55 tackles with 16 for loss and 11 sacks this past season.
"His athleticism is unbelievable," Vols defensive line coach Steve Stripling said. "To think that he's going to have three years with us, that's real exciting. Great athletic ability, great take-off, great motor, a very humble young man that just wants to continue his incredible journey and become better and provide for his family."
After Kongbo reopened his recruitment following a commitment to Tennessee, the Vols had to fend off Southern California, Ole Miss and Florida State to land him.
Stripling joked that the last three letters of Kongbo's last name - an acronym for "Go Big Orange" - made him a "natural recruit" for the Vols.
"We're really looking forward to this young man," he added. "He's got great effort. His potential is untapped."
As for the Vols' newest tackle, Johnson spent two seasons at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas (after playing at Mount Zion High School outside of Atlanta), and in 10 games in 2015 he had 41 tackles with 12.5 for loss and 8.5 sacks.
He's a natural replacement for Owen Williams, another junior college transfer who started 12 games and made 35 tackles in his second and final season with the Vols in 2015.
"We're real excited about him," Stripling said. "He was ranked the No. 1 defensive tackle by many, just because he has the strength to defend the run and the ability to rush the quarterback. The greatest thing about Alexis is he's a powerful young man against the run.
"He's got good hands. He uses his feet and athleticism well. He's physical, but the great thing is he's here right now. He's working hard. He's 295 pounds. He has a great attitude, and he's working hard daily with us."
Kongbo and Johnson are quality additions to a position group that loses only Williams.
Derek Barnett and Kahlil McKenzie give the unit star power. Veterans LaTroy Lewis, Dimarya Mixon, Danny O'Brien, Corey Vereen and Kendal Vickers have plenty of experience and production. There's young talent as well, with Kyle Phillips and Shy Tuttle returning from injuries and Darrell Taylor prepared by a redshirt season.
Not all of them will be available for spring practice, though, with Barnett, Phillips, Tuttle, Vickers and redshirt freshman Andrew Butcher all expected to be limited or absent for practice while recovering from offseason surgeries.
"Good players can make me a good coach," Stripling said. "We're excited we're hitting it hard on the recruiting trail. I'm really excited about next year and this defensive line. There's some maturity to it. I watched them today, and they were working extremely hard, so we're looking forward to next season."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.