Late 2016 addition
Signing day was more than five months ago, but Tennessee didn’t put the final touches on its 2016 recruiting class until the summer with the late addition of a running back out of Oklahoma.Jeremy Lewis, a 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from Lone Grove near the Texas border, enrolled at Tennessee for the second session of summer school that began this month. The three-star prospect was committed to Arkansas State, but amid academic concerns he signed with Trinity Valley Community College in Texas in February. Lewis became a late qualifier and joined the Vols, though he’s yet to be officially added to the roster. Lewis, who had scholarship offers from Nebraska, Ohio and Tulsa, ran for a whopping 3,066 yards and 51 touchdowns during his senior season.Without a late addition the Vols were looking at having just four scholarship running backs this season and only two next spring, if Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara leave for the NFL draft after their junior seasons. Lewis essentially makes up for the career-jeopardizing injury to Joe Young, and at the least he’ll provide depth as a freshman and competition for John Kelly and Carlin Fils-aime next spring.
KNOXVILLE – Tennessee’s 2015 football recruiting class produced some players who contributed as freshmen, and many of those players could be poised for bigger impacts as sophomores.
Chief among the group is linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr.
The Indianapolis native started 10 games and ranked second among SEC freshmen with 66 tackles in making the All-SEC freshman team, and the way he finished his debut season, with 44 tackles in the final seven games, has him poised for a potential breakout in 2016.
“The ceiling’s sky high,” senior linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin said last week at SEC media days in Hoover, Ala. “There might not be none. He’s so talented and so gifted. For a freshman to be able to come in and step in and make all the calls for the defense is crazy to me. I know I wouldn’t have been ready to do that at all.
“I just want to see him keep maturing, keep progressing, keep taking ownership, keep holding everybody accountable and for him to keep pushing me. We compete all the time. I love to see that from him. It definitely makes it a lot more fun.”
Kirkland made his first career start in the third game against Western Carolina and essentially took over for good at middle linebacker two series into the Florida game the following week.
As he grew more comfortable at the position, the production followed. Kirkland made seven tackles at Alabama, set up a touchdown with an interception against Kentucky and totaled nine stops against South Carolina in consecutive weeks.
He capped the season with six tackles and a sack against Northwestern in the Outback Bowl.
“I’ve never seen him get cocky,” Reeves-Maybin said.
“He still grinds. He’s still in the complex late hours working on his game and working on his body and working on his quickness. I don’t see any signs of him slowing up, and I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by what he accomplishes this year.”
Tennessee’s 2015 class ranked in the top five nationally according to multiple recruiting services, so it’s no surprise a handful of those players helped the Volunteers immediately.
Running back Alvin Kamara, a junior college transfer, became a game-changer on offense, while Kirkland and offensive tackle Chance Hall were Tennessee’s representatives on the All-SEC freshman team.
By the end of the season Justin Martin, another junior college transfer, was starting at cornerback, and defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie was playing well. Offensive guard Jack Jones more than held his own against Georgia and Alabama. Receivers Jauan Jennings and Preston Williams combined for 21 catches as freshmen.
Backup quarterback Quinten Dormady and No. 3 running back John Kelly received valuable experience late in blowouts, while defensive back Micah Abernathy and linebacker Austin Smith carved out reserve roles on defense.
A total of 17 freshmen played, though injuries either cut short or hampered the seasons of defensive tackle Shy Tuttle, defensive end Kyle Phillips, linebacker Quart’e Sapp and safety Stephen Griffin.
Sapp and redshirt freshman offensive tackle Drew Richmond were two players Reeves-Maybin singled out for their summer progress.
“I like to see people grow, and I know I’ve seen a lot with Drew Richmond and Quart’e Sapp,” he said. “Now I know y’all are going to go put the pressure on all them and expect big things. Just seeing them grow and seeing their football character grow (in) both of those guys, it’s been fun watching them.
“Those two guys I was hard on as freshmen. I was always messing with them and just telling them what they needed to do to get better. They used to get tired of me, but those are my boys, and they respect me.
“Now we’ve got that friendship where I let them know you’re getting better and you’re growing and I like to see that.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.