NCAA uncertainty, in-state struggles are Tennessee's top recruiting challenges

Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee first-year football coach Josh Heupel has a collection of 2022 commitments that ranks 41st nationally, according to the 247Sports.com team rankings.
Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee first-year football coach Josh Heupel has a collection of 2022 commitments that ranks 41st nationally, according to the 247Sports.com team rankings.

Locating the University of Tennessee in college football's various recruiting rankings was a whole lot easier last year.

In May 2020, the Volunteers were ranked second only to Ohio State, with Tennessee having amassed 21 nonbinding pledges for the 2021 signing cycle. Tennessee was the top national recruiting story in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak, with Jeremy Pruitt's Vols having compiled 14 of their top 15 highest-rated commitments in the weeks that immediately followed COVID-19 being declared a pandemic.

Ohio State can be found at the top of the current rankings as well, but the Vols and their eight commitments under new coach Josh Heupel stood at 41st entering this weekend, according to 247Sports.com. Tennessee picked up its eighth commitment Friday, receiving a nonbinding pledge from Masai Reddick (6-foot-4, 330 pounds), a three-star offensive tackle from Detroit.

"Literally, every spring with the exception of last year, there has been some hand-wringing as to why Tennessee is off to a slow start," 247Sports recruiting analyst Ryan Callahan said. "Whether it's March, April, May or June, it comes up every year, and last year was definitely the exception and not the rule as far as how spring recruiting usually goes for Tennessee.

"Tennessee, historically, has to do more out-of-state recruiting compared to some other schools, and that often leads to having to wait through the summer to get some guys to commit and to visit multiple times. The pandemic led people to make more early commitments, but that's typically not what you see at Tennessee."

Of course, a lot has changed on the Tennessee football front compared to a year ago, when the Vols were coming off an 8-5 season that included a Gator Bowl topping of Indiana. Tennessee won its first two games last season but quickly spiraled to a 3-7 record in which all seven losses transpired against Southeastern Conference opposition by double digits.

Making matters worse, Pruitt and linebacker coaches Shelton Felton and Brian Niedermeyer were terminated in January after a university investigation revealed NCAA Level I and II investigations, and one of the timeworn constants in recruiting is that no school thrives amid the uncertainty of potential sanctions.

"Some players have publicly said that they've got concerns, and it's tough for Tennessee to combat that when they don't have the answers yet," Callahan said. "It allows other schools to paint a picture that it's going to be bad, like they would have to wait two or three years before playing in a bowl game and stuff like that. Whether it's true or not, these schools can say that until the uncertainty is removed.

"Ole Miss and other schools have gone through this in the past while waiting for their final word on the punishment, and it makes it tough on recruiting."

photo 247Sports.com photo / Murfreesboro Oakland running back Jordan James committed to Georgia in March. Jones is among several elite Volunteer State prospects who are choosing to leave Tennessee.

Tennessee has compiled 13 consecutive top-25 signing classes, with five of those landing in the top 10. The 2015 class checked in at No. 4, with that crop headed by the likes of defensive tackles Kahlil McKenzie and Shy Tuttle, defensive end Kyle Phillips, running back Alvin Kamara, receiver Preston Williams and offensive tackle Drew Richmond.

Callahan believes a top-25 finish could be the ceiling for this year's cycle, pointing to in-state talents such as five-star Martin quarterback Ty Simpson (committed to Alabama) and four-star Murfreesboro running back Jordan James (committed to Georgia) having already announced intentions to play elsewhere. Tennessee has yet to receive a commitment from one of the Volunteer State's top-20 prospects, with Callahan listing a pair of four-star receivers - Cameron Miller of Memphis and Isaiah Horton of Murfreesboro as top possibilities.

"That's where they face as many challenges as anywhere," Callahan said. "When the former staff was here, it looked like they were in good shape with a lot of those guys. Jay Graham had built a solid relationship with Jordan James, and Ty Simpson had a real chance of going to Tennessee, but once last season blew up and there was the coaching change, a lot of that started to change and fade, and Tennessee was never able to recover.

"All this that Tennessee has gone through has coincided with an in-state class that is really deep. Josh Heupel and his staff have done a lot of good things, but they weren't able to get these guys on campus earlier in the year."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.

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