Oak Ridge High School tight end Malik Howard has held a scholarship offer from Tennessee for two full years.
On Saturday, he decided to turn that offer into a commitment, offering his nonbinding pledge to the Volunteers while visiting Knoxville. The 6-foot-4, 231-pounder is a four-star prospect and is listed as the nation’s No. 11 tight end prospect in the 247Sports.com composite rankings and the No. 215 overall recruit.
“I’m getting to play in an offense that’s really grown to learn how to use the tight ends,” Howard told 247Sports.com after committing, “and that is really going to be key to my development to playing in the NFL, obviously. That and just being around really good people in this program.
“There are not a lot of places that are as genuine and hard-working as Tennessee is.”
Howard picked the Vols over offers from Notre Dame and Oregon.
Also visiting Tennessee this weekend were Baylor School running back David Gabriel Georges, the state’s top-ranked player and the No. 10 prospect nationally, and Chattooga High School defensive lineman Kadin Fife, who committed to the Vols last November. Gabriel Georges has set July 22 as his announcement date, when he is expected to pick between Tennessee and Ohio State.
Howard gave the Vols their third top-10 prospect from within the state, joining Brentwood Academy receiver Kesean Bowman (No. 3) and Murfreesboro Siegel offensive tackle Princeton Uwaifo (No. 5). Six of Tennessee’s 10 commitments are from the Volunteer State, and Howard expects to be an early enrollee for coach Josh Heupel and tight ends coach Alec Abeln.
“Coach Abeln says I move a lot like (current Vols redshirt junior tight end) Ethan Davis,” Howard told 247Sports.com. “He feels like I can be pretty versatile — play in the slot, play outside, inside and bump some heads in the blocking game.
“He just feels like I could be a real versatile player for them, just plug-and-play anywhere.”
Elander tabs Knight
Tennessee baseball coach Josh Elander wasted little time naming a new pitching coach, tabbing Austin Knight, who has spent the past five seasons in the same role at East Carolina University.
ECU defeated Elander’s Vols 7-3 in 14 innings in the opening round of the NCAA tournament’s recent Chapel Hill Regional.
“Austin has a proven track record of developing pitchers and leading successful staffs that compete at the highest level,” Elander said in a release. “He is an exceptional coach and recruiter whose values align with our culture, and we look forward to the impact he will have on our student-athletes and program.”
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Knight replaces Josh Reynolds, who was dismissed Thursday.
Prior to his promotion to pitching coach, Knight spent the 2020-21 seasons as ECU’s volunteer assistant coach. During his seven years in Greenville, Knight helped the Pirates capture five American Conference regular-season titles.
Knight was a four-year catcher at Ole Miss from 2012-15, competing in 120 career contests and helping the Rebels reach the 2014 College World Series.
Kersey commits
Tennessee on Saturday night landed its first baseball player through the transfer portal since its season ended.
Mercer two-way player Braydon Kersey committed to the Vols and has two seasons of eligibility remaining. The 6-1, 205-pounder from the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta hit .325 with 21 home runs and 67 RBIs at the plate this season, when he tallied six saves with a 4.95 earned run average on the mound.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.