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Growing up a Georgia fan, Ensworth four-star defensive lineman Ethan Utley never really imagined himself playing at Tennessee.
As he got older and took more visits to Knoxville, things quickly changed. Utley took multiple trips to Tennessee and quickly fell in love with it. That love grew into him seeing a future for himself in Knoxville.
Utley took a step towards the particular future Thursday night committing to the Volunteers during his 17th birthday party.
“It really came down to my relationship with everyone on the staff and my comfortability,” Utley said. “My best friend’s Dylan Lewis and we knew we’d have an opportunity to team up. Getting to be a duo on defense, that’s just not something I could pass up.
..as far as development goes, you can’t beat Coach (Rodney) Garner. He’s the best defensive line coach in the country and over the past 30 years, he’s developed plenty of guys into first-rounders. I couldn’t pass up that opportunity to play for him.”
One of the state’s top 2025 prospects according to each of the major recruiting websites, Utley is the seventh commitment in Tennessee’s 2025 class. He’s the second-highest ranked pledge and the second player from Middle Tennessee to commit to the Vols so far this cycle.
He joins on-field Division II-AAA foe and five-star quarterback George MacIntyre in the class. Utley hopes that between he and MacIntyre, they can help lure more of the Midstate’s top prospects to Knoxville.
“We’re coming to get everybody,” Utley said. “Guys like Daune Morris at Oakland, Chauncey Gooden at Lipscomb, we’re coming to get everyone. We want to build a wall around the state and keep the top guys home so we can build Tennessee football back to the top.
…all these guys from Nashville have the same goal in mind. They all want Rocky Top to be great again so we want to build something special in Knoxville.”
