Vols T logoMaybe it’s the influx of new coaching staffs at roughly a third of the football programs in the Southeastern Conference. Maybe it’s the changing nature of the entire recruiting game. Maybe it’s an outlier, an anomaly, in the ebbs and flows of adults with seven-figure salaries and programs with eight- and nine-figure budgets having a large part of their futures decided by teenagers.
Whatever the reason, it feels like this college football recruiting cycle is as tumultuous and fluid as any in recent memory.
The trajectory of football’s top prospects picking their collegiate homes had moved toward earlier commitments and relative peace down the homestretch. This year, however, there’s a sprint to the finish and a few SEC schools, including Tennessee, are poised to make some noise.
Tennessee’s influx — and out-flux, if that’s a word — has been jumpstarted by the coaching change. Nine players who formerly were committed to UT will not be part of the Volunteers’ class next week. That’s OK, and Butch Jones and Co. have done work replacing those guys and in a lot of ways upgrading from those guys.
Also of note, UT landed a commitment from MarQuez North this week. North, a four-star receiver from North Carolina, is a big talent at a big position of need for the Vols. And if you are going to replace an all-world talent and an all-world name like Cordarrelle Patterson, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound receiver with multiple capital letters in his first name is an excellent starting point.