The NCAA Dead Period begins Monday, June 30 and lasts until July 13. Coaches will have time to step away from entertaining prospects and their families as recruiting targets aren’t allowed on campuses.
It will be a well-deserved calm amidst the storm for a Tennessee staff that picked up commitments from three-star quarterback Quinten Dormady, two-star athlete Jocquez Bruce, four-star running back Alvin Kamara, three-star outside linebacker Austin Smith, three-star defensive tackle Quay Picou, three-star tight end Kyle Oliver and three-star punter Tommy Townsend this month alone.
The declarations of Kamara, Oliver, Picou and Smith came after each visited for Orange Carpet Day on Saturday. Nearly the entire commitment class was on hand to help with recruiting fellow members of the 2015 class.
Prospects played the video game Madden 14™ on the Jumbotron™ in Neyland Stadium and corn hole. Rain clouds cut short a portion of the even, causing it to end hours earlier than expected. Nevertheless, players still left with a positive feel for Tennessee football.
“It was awesome,” three-star safety Stephen Griffin told IT. “I didn’t really know how it was going to work out, didn’t know what to expect. It was cool. It was much more than I expected.”
In similar fashion to the 2014 class, the ’15 class has a group message. The electronic communication benefits the bunch but the Orange Carpet Day put faces with names.
“Mostly just hanging out, getting to meet the guys, talking, hanging out, eating,” said Dormady, who spent a majority of his time with three-star offensive lineman commit Jack Jones. “With the rain, it kind of deadened some stuff but it was good.”
Dormady isn’t up on who all his targets will be on The Hill had only heard of Scout five-star and No. 1-rated wide receiver Preston Williams before last weekend. The Texan and the Peach State pass-catcher have met and will start getting to know one another somewhat better through the aforementioned group text messaging.
“That’s huge to have a kid who can straight out go and can play,” Dormady told IT. “Just knowing that, that’s definitely exciting.”
With all the additions, Tennessee now sits with 18 commitments, which is 10th nationally in Scout's team rankings. Many questions continue to arise about how many the staff intends to sign. Sources close to IT indicate that not every member of the current 18 will wind up in orange next summer. The grand total added for Team 119 figures to be 24. It had been in the 18-20 range but several players scheduled to return in 2015 —*Malik Brown, Jason Carr, Riley Ferguson, Christian Harris, Paul Harris, Alden Hill, Tom Smith and Tino Thomas — left the program already, which allowed the staff more optimism to sign a deeper class. Also, longsnapper Wesley Horky was to go on scholarship in January, counting against the 85-man limit, but the Brentwood native opted to sign with Oklahoma. In all that’s nine players scheduled to be in Knoxville in August 2015 that won’t be.
It’s hard for an analyst to have a detailed idea on what an SEC staff wants to do with its recruiting board, best guess has Tennessee adding a linebacker, a wide receiver, two offensive tackles, two cornerbacks and two defensive tackles. Should another spot open up, it will surely be filled with a top-end talent.
Kahlil McKenzie is clear No. 1 target on the board and is Scout’s top-rated defensive tackle in the country. Sources speculate that McKenzie and fellow five-star Torrance Gibson are a “package deal.” If true, then the question begs: Where does Gibson play in Knoxville? Undoubtedly he’d get every chance to prove his worth at quarterback if he still sees that as his top-end position by the time he enrolls. Keep an eye on Gibson, who maintains Tennessee leads for his services. McKenzie is scheduled to commit publicly during The Opening on July 10.
Keisean Lucier-South is Scout’s No. 5-rated defensive end in the nation. He again trimmed his list of top schools and again making the cut is Tennessee. This time the Golden State standout brought his count down to 11. Florida, Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, UCLA and USC join the Vols in that group.
Isaiah Prince is a four-star offensive tackle from Maryland still interested in the Vols, even coming off an Ohio State visit that impressed. The Buckeyes and Vols are accompanied by Alabama, Auburn and Florida in his top group with a commitment likely coming this summer. Prince says he will trip to the Heart of Dixie in mid-July, so the Tennessee staff may attempt to get him to swing through Knoxville around that time.