Independence’s Vic Wharton III catches a pass against Beech on Sept. 13, 2013.KNOXVILLE – It would take Vic Wharton a little while to do the math.
With the phone calls and the text messages, and the Twitter posts and other social media interactions, it’s been a busy 13-plus months for the football star at Independence High School just south of Nashville.
Since becoming the first commitment for Tennessee’s 2014 recruiting class on Christmas Day 2012, Wharton has done his part to build what eventually became a large, highly touted class by spearheading the peer-recruiting efforts of other prospects by Tennessee’s early commitments.
“It’s a bunch, thousands probably,” he estimated last week.
Little did Wharton know what the Volunteers’ class would become when he became the first 2014 commitment for Butch Jones, then Tennessee’s new head coach.