A Tennessee Volunteers football legacy plans to play for the Vols after all.
After committing to Alabama on May 11, Brentwood Academy linebacker Kenneth Simon II on Saturday afternoon switched his nonbinding pledge to Tennessee. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Simon became the 14th commitment for the Vols in the 2027 signing cycle, the seventh player from Tennessee, and the second linebacker for new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
“He finds players, and if you’re versatile, he’ll use you in different ways than most schools want to use you,” Simon told 247Sports.com. “The way that he was talking about using me, I like it a lot. It just gives me a lot of freedom just to go play.”
Tennessee’s other linebacker commitment is JP Peace of Maryville High School, who is the grandson of former Vols head coach Phillip Fulmer.
The Vols added a 15th commitment Saturday night from Q’Mari Hudson, a 6-5, 330-pound offensive tackle from Western Branch High School in Chesapeake, Virginia. Hudson is the nation’s No. 40 tackle prospect and the No. 393 overall recruit, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings.
Simon is the nation’s No. 10 linebacker and the No. 139 prospect overall. His father, Kevin Simon, was a top-25 national recruit in Tennessee’s 2001 class that also contained five-star running backs Jabari Davis and Cedric Houston.
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The elder Simon played for the Vols through 2005 before being selected by Washington in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL draft. He returned to Tennessee as a graduate assistant under Fulmer in 2007-08 before serving as a scout for the Dallas Cowboys (2009-16) and the Atlanta Falcons (2016-18).
Tennessee became home again for Kevin Simon when he served as director of player development under Jeremy Pruitt in 2018-20 and under Josh Heupel in 2021. He has been linebackers coach at Knoxville Catholic High School since 2022.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.