Busy recruiting week nets multiple commitments for Vols

Tennessee's Jason Croom receives an award from coach Butch Jones at the Vols' spring game.
Tennessee's Jason Croom receives an award from coach Butch Jones at the Vols' spring game.

KNOXVILLE - It wasn't quite the June Saturday of nine commitments, but Tennessee enjoyed a productive stretch of recruiting last week.

The Volunteers began with the late addition of 2016 running back Jeremy Lewis and the commitments of brothers Breyon and Brandon Gaddy, and by the end of the week Tennessee made another late addition to its 2016 class and picked up three 2017 commitments while hosting a handful of other top targets.

Mykelle McDaniel was the only one of those targets taking an official visit to Knoxville, and the defensive end from Georgia wound up signing with Tennessee as a late 2016 addition on Saturday.

The recruiting process for the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder out of Logansville's Grayson High School went beyond signing day amid academic concerns, and Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas A&M had shown interest since March.

McDaniel's recruitment see-sawed as he struggled with weight and motivation, but it makes sense for the Vols to take a flyer on him. They signed only two junior college transfers - including Alexis Johnson, who was arrested in February and is indefinitely suspended - for the defensive line in their 2016 class.

With the depth currently at his position, McDaniel is a likely redshirt candidate this season, but Tennessee believed there was enough upside to add him.

Tennessee's three new 2017 commitments are athlete C.J. Cotman, wide receiver Jordan Murphy and quarterback C.J. Lewis.

Cotman, from Clearwater, Fla., is likely to play cornerback in college. The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder has yet to visit Knoxville and added to the end of his Twitter announcement on Wednesday that his recruitment remained "open to every school." First-year tight ends coach and Florida native Larry Scott played a big role in Cotman's commitment.

His scholarship offer list included Alabama, Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Ole Miss.

Murphy, from Hattiesburg, Miss., picked the Vols on Thursday night after participating in Tennessee's camp. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound three-star prospect had offers from Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State and Ole Miss. As a junior he caught 50 passes for 844 yards and 11 touchdowns in 13 games.

Tennessee's recruiting run concluded Saturday with C.J. Lewis as the Vols landed the quarterback for this class.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound dual-threat prospect from Connecticut jumped on a long-awaited offer from Tennessee that came while he was on campus this weekend. His only other offers were from Boston College, Buffalo and Connecticut. Lewis camped at Tennessee twice in June, so the Vols have been evaluating him for a while.

Tennessee has 23 commitments for its 2017 class.

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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