Tennessee loaded with high school football talent for 2019; how many will UT Vols sign?
Blake Toppmeyer
The state of Tennessee could puff out its chest about its football talent two years ago, when it boasted the nation’s top-ranked 2017 recruit according to ESPN and 10 players in the ESPN Top 300.
The state features a comparable crop of talent in the 2019 recruiting class.
Although there’s no Trey Smith topping the national rankings this year, the state of Tennessee has 11 players ranked in the ESPN Top 300.
That’s the most for Tennessee since ESPN expanded from a Top 150 to Top 300 in 2013.
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The talent stretches deeper than the Top 300. There are 17 players from Tennessee in the 2019 class that carry a four-star ESPN ranking.
“You’re starting to see a growth in the depth of talent in that state,” ESPN recruiting coordinator Craig Haubert said. “In terms of top-end talent, you have to kind of say 2017 was a little bit stronger, but not by much. … I think this class, as a whole, 2019 is probably a little bit stronger.”
Where does UT stand with these players?
Offensive guard Jackson Lampley from Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville is the lone high school player from Tennessee committed to UT's 2019 class. Lampley, the son of former Vols player Brad Lampley, announced his pledge on Feb. 8. He’s the 200th-ranked prospect nationally by ESPN.
Among the other 16 instate four-star prospects, five are committed to other schools and 11 are uncommitted. Each of those uncommitted prospects carries a Tennessee offer, according to ESPN’s database.
The state’s top-rated prospect, cornerback Maurice Hampton from Memphis University School, is committed to LSU. Another Memphis prospect in the top 125, offensive lineman William Norton of Christian Brothers High School, is pledged to Georgia, though UT reportedly is still pursuing him.
That first-year coach Jeremy Pruitt doesn’t have more players from Tennessee committed is no reason to panic, Haubert said.
For one, Pruitt faces an uphill battle until he coaches his first game and starts showing what his team can do.
“Right now, you’re selling a plan and a vision,” Haubert said, “whereas you’re going head to head with programs that are nearby that are selling results.”
Moreover, Pruitt has made headway in Georgia, with three Top 300 prospects from that talent-rich state committed to the Vols. That includes five-star offensive tackle Wanya Morris, ranked ninth in ESPN’s Top 300.
And the early signing period is more than six months away, leaving plenty of time for uncommitted prospects to come aboard and committed prospects to change their mind.
“It doesn’t matter until (a prospect) signs on the dotted line,” said Tom Luginbill, ESPN’s director of scouting and a college football analyst. “(A verbal commitment) is like having a 500-pound marlin on the line, but he’s 500 yards away, and you’re spending all this time reeling him in, tugging against the tide, and guess what? He’s reeking chum, and all the sharks are circling.”
Tennessee encountered that last year with five-star Knoxville Catholic offensive tackle Cade Mays, the state’s top prospect. He committed to the Vols in 2015 before decommitting last November amid UT’s 4-8 season. He signed with Georgia.
Does winning the home state matter?
Pruitt hasn’t made a fuss about locking down the borders.
“I don’t think it matters when you go out there and play the game — in any sport — where they’re from,” Pruitt said. “You want to recruit the best players.”
The way Luginbill sees it, though, for every coveted instate player you lose, you have to steal a comparable out-of-state player to balance the scales. A good situation, he said, is having eight to 10 talented instate players who will stay within the state.
“What has to happen in the state of Tennessee, particularly as it relates to the University of Tennessee, is what Alabama has done in the state of Alabama — where if there’s a great player, he’s yours to lose,” Luginbill said. “I don’t think that’s necessarily the case, as evidenced by the last few years.”
UT’s 2018 signing class included three of the state’s top 10 prospects. Two of those players where holdover commitments from Butch Jones' tenure, while another, wide receiver Alontae Taylor, was committed to Jones, decommitted, and rejoined with Pruitt.
UT's 2019 class of nine commitments is ranked eighth in the SEC in the industry-generated 247Sports composite rankings.
Four commitments are from Georgia, plus another junior-college pledge who played at a Georgia high school. That’s a good sign for UT, Haubert said, because instate players will only take the Vols so far and Georgia is the logical state from which to supplement.
But talent resides inside the borders, too.
This is the third straight year with at least nine ESPN Top 300 players from Tennessee. From the 2013-16 classes, there was only one year in which the state supplied more than seven.
Luginbill and Haubert pointed to Nashville's population surge as a reason for the talent growth. From 2010-16, the Nashville area population jumped by 11.6 percent.
“Good recruiting starts at home,” Haubert said, “so it helps when you have good players at home to be able to kind of build that base. I think you’re starting to see the state of Tennessee really start to grow in talent.”
ESPN's top Tennessee football players for 2019
Rank Pos. Player School Committed?
56 CB Maurice Hampton MUS LSU
66 WR Lance Wilhoite FRA No
123 OT William Norton Christian Brothers Georgia
130 ATH T.J. Sheffield Independence No
200 OG Jackson Lampley MBA Tennessee
204 WR Jashon Watkins East Nashville No
255 DE Ani Izuchukwu Davidson Acad. Miss. State
257 ILB Kane Patterson CPA No
266 WR Trey Knox Blackman No
272 DE Joseph Anderson Siegel S. Carolina
275 RB Eric Gray Lausanne No