Better tacklers, blockers and defenders...

[Sommers]

Wrestling pays off for the Vols...

Defensive lineman Jordan Phillips would start off the commitment barrage on July 1.

The Ocoee, Florida native chose Tennessee over a final group that included Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Maryland. Phillips ranks as the 640th best player and 96th best defensive lineman in the country according to the 247sports composite rankings.

The 6-foot-2, 300 pound defensive lineman is a three sport athlete at Ocoee High School, excelling in wrestling and weight lifting on top of football. 

https://www.rockytopinsider.com/2021/07/09/recapping-busy-week-of-tennessee-football-recruiting/

[cbg]

The major issue between football and wrestling is not weight cutting as most people involved with high school football would have you to believe.  That problem was eliminated when the National Federation implemented the weight certification guidelines.  The issue is that few if any Tennessee high school football coaches have every wrestled or even understand the sport of wrestling.  Those same football coaches think that everything is a turf war and for whatever reason refuse to actively encourage the football players to participate in other sports.  The true numbers are that only 6.9% of high school football players ever play at any level in college and only 2.7% of those players ever participate at the NCAA D1 level.  The truth is that all high school athletes should participate in two if not three sports while in high school and with a little encouragement from the coaching staffs they would participate in more than one sport.

 

Edited July 14, 2021 by cbg