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Emmanuel Olenga’s transcript could have doubled as the defensive end’s American Express™ card on Saturday.

The Scout three-star prospect intended to give*Tennessee*and second-year coach Butch Jones a verbal commitment during his fifth trip to Knoxville last weekend but left the all-important documents back in Charlotte.

“Honestly, I was supposed to make my decision today, but I didn’t bring my transcript. Forgot it. Paperwork thing,” Olenga said.

The Olympic (N.C.) High School standout was on The Hill for the second “Orange Carpet Day” of the summer, spending more time with coaches and fellow recruits.

“It let me see the other side of Tennessee, get closer with the coach, bond more with the coach, get to see other recruits that I might be playing with. It was actually fun; I loved it,” Olenga said.

“We bonded a lot. It was nice. It was nice.”

The 6-foot-4 1/2, 240-pounder with 4.95 speed has a close relationship with Orange & White coaches.

“I’m very comfortable,” Olenga said. “I feel like they’re part of my family, and I can talk to them about practically everything. Yeah, I enjoyed it.”

Even though he wasn’t able to be commitment No. 23 for Tennessee’s 2015 signing class, the D-end headed east with the Volunteers on top: “They’re definitely No. 1.”

“Nobody’s touching Tennessee, not at all,” he said.

“The coaches, what direction they’re pointed, the direction they’re pointing the program toward as far as academics, football and coach Jones always talks a lot about family. I really feel that’s important to me also. I love it.”

For Olenga, who had a 2.6 grade point average in his spring semester and scored 25 on the ACT, being fully qualified academically is of no issue. Thus, a potential career at Tennessee might have been just a formality.

“I’m good to go. Just the paperwork. I should have brought it. I’d have been a Vol,” he said.

Olenga plans to return to Rocky Top for visit No. 6 the weekend of the 2014 season opener. The Vols take on Utah State on Shields-Watkins Field on Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. Eastern.

With transcript in hand, does that mean a Labor Day weekend declaration?

“I’m not sure. I’ve still got to talk to my parents,” Olenga said.
 
Scout: What made you decide to go ahead and commit to Tennessee?

Bailey Phillips: Well Tennessee had everything I had been looking for in a school, which is a team that's a family, a coach that didn't only know the position but could actually coach the position, and a team that fits my caliber of play.


Scout: Which coach has been your primary recruiter at Tennessee and what do you like about him?

Phillips: Coach Martinez (assistant head coach-defense Willie Martinez) and coach Jones (head coach Butch Jones) have been the main sources of communication between me and the Tennessee staff, but there was something special about the way me and coach Martinez' relationship was, and the way he coached the position that stood to me and pulled me into committing.


Scout: Were there any other schools that recruited you as hard as Tennessee? Any others you strongly considered?

Phillips: All of the schools that offered me did the same as Tennessee, but at the end of the day Tennessee had the game-changing attributes and that's why I have committed.


Scout: What plans do the coaches have for you as a player, as far as the type of player they want you to be and the role you'll play?

Phillips: The coaches want me to come in and be a big help to the team and DB corps. I know for sure the coaches want me to play DB or nickelback.


Scout: Tennessee defensive end*Dimarya Mixon*is your cousin. He'll be a junior when you're a freshman. What's it like knowing that you'll have somebody you know already up there?

Phillips: It will be very helpful with my cousin at Tennessee and also with one of my close friends Darrell Miller committing as well. I'll have two people to look out for me and get me through my first year of college.
 
The final major recruiting weekend of the summer months is in the books and “Orange Carpet Day” was a success by getting verbal commitments from junior offensive tackle Ryan Johnson (pre-arranged), senior defensive end Marques Ford, senior cornerback Darrell Miller and junior cornerback Bailey Phillips. Senior defensive end Emmanuel Olenga said he’d made the fifth pledge had he simply brought his qualifying transcript.


Between camps, junior days, random trips and two Orange Carpet events, the staff educated hundreds of prep football players on Tennessee this summer. The numerous unofficial visits, head coach Butch Jones says, is quite different from how things worked in the not-too-distant past.


“Absolutely,” Jones told InsideTennessee. “The whole recruiting calendar, the whole structure of recruiting has been accelerated with the unofficial visits. And, I think the ages of the unofficial visitors. I would say probably the last 3 years there’s been a monumental change to that point.”


More prospects are taking tours to several schools with players that are being recruited. The second-year head man says his staff gears up for these unofficial as they could be the single-most important part of the recruiting cycle.


“For them it gives them a good sense of being able to compare schools in all aspects,” Jones said. “Everything is about first impressions. The thing is when an individual comes on an unofficial you may only have 3 or 4 hours and they’re making a decision. So everything is important. A lot of times the unofficial becomes more important than the official visit. And every individual wants to accomplish something different. You know a lot of times they’ll come back again and again. Maybe they want to spend more time doing academics or maybe they want to spend more time doing football or they see this or they see that. So every unofficial visit is different just in terms of what they want to get accomplished.”


The staff continues to make headway with the 2016 class as the No. 18 cornerback in the country, Mecole Hardman, visited from Elberton, Ga., and left OCD with Tennessee as his top school. The No. 13-rated junior defensive end is Panama City, Fla., native Janarius Robinson. The 6-5 pass rusher made it out for OCD, which was his third unofficial trip of the summer.


Ford and Miller puling the trigger mean Tennessee now has 22 commitments for the ’15 class. With former walk-on Devaun Swafford going on scholarship, the Big Orange can send out 24 National Letters of Intent. Don’t expect the staff to slow its pursuit of the big-time names on the board. Should an elite player give his commitment, room will be made. Remember, 10 players who were on-time Tennessee commitments for the 2014 class wound up elsewhere. That’s simply the landscape of modern-day recruiting in the Southeastern Conference The bird-in-hand approach is taken more and more. However, the staff has told several players “no thanks” on declaration attempts this summer.


Drew Richmond is the top uncommitted in-state prospect and the four-star made it to Knoxville from Memphis with his parents last weekend. While IT predicts the MUS offensive tackle to choose Tennessee on Sept, 9, Richmond has been adamant that he’s not told any staffs he’s coming and he has no clear leader. Richmond is to be in Columbus this weekend to see what else Ohio State has to offer.


Keisean Lucier-South is one of a handful of Scout five-star prospects still on the board for Tennessee. After something of a hiatus, the Vols staff has re-cranked its recruitment of the potential Leo end. The Californian lists Tennessee alongside Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Southern Cal and UCLA as those pursuing The Opening participant the hardest.


Kyle Phillips is a four-star defensive end prospect that’s been on Tennessee’s radar for over a year. The Nashville native and son of a TSU athletics director says he’s concentrating on Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
 
Austin Kendall*doesn’t need directions to Knoxville. The junior has visited*Tennessee“about five times” with the reason being that the Southeastern Conference university thinks highly of the quarterback’s skill set.

Second-year coach Butch Jones and offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian kick-started the recruiting process with the Scout four-star prospect extremely early and that has the Volunteers placed nicely to land Kendall.

“Coach Jones, coach Jake tell me I’m their guy,” Kendall told InsideTennessee. “They really like me. I love it here. I’m definitely going to keep coming back. They’re definitely one of my top schools. They just love building a relationship with me. I love building with them. I’m looking forward to what’s to come.

“They’ve been on me since my freshman year. They’re one of the first two to get on me, and I like that about them. Everything here is great. I’m just going to keep weighing my options out and go from there.

“Ever since then (freshman season), they’ve called my coaches at Charlotte Christian and Cuthbertson High. They want me to call them every week. I talk to them every week. I call coach Jones on the phone; I have his number. He loves talking to me. He told me he had a dream of me. That’s pretty funny. I just love it here. We’ll see what happens.”

The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder finds value in being a top target for a program like Tennessee.

“It means a lot,” said Kendall, rated the No. 17 junior QB in the nation. “Today they sat down and showed me where the depth chart is, about where I’ll stand within guys they have and when they’ll be gone and how I stack up. They have two commits in 2015 —*one is an athlete I’m pretty sure. Basically, I’ll be competing with (Quinten Dormady). The two other guys like (Joshua) Dobbs and (Nathan Peterman) will be gone by then because (Riley) Ferguson is already gone.”

Relationship building with the Tennessee staff is a primary reason for tripping to Rocky Top. Kendall and his parents were able to accomplish that by taking in “Orange Carpet Day” earlier this month.

“Just being able to spend a lot more time with coach Jake and coach Jones…I sat with coach Jones for probably 45 minutes or something,” the four-star said. “The new Peyton Manning room, they said I was the first quarterback to sit in there. So, that means something too. But, I mean they took a lot of their time out of the day. They took me out of the group processes and took me to their offices and sat down and talked to me and had more feel.”

Tennessee opens up versus Utah State at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. EST. Kendall hopes to be in attendance for that one and possibly another night game this fall.

A college choice is expected “probably after my junior season if not before then.”

As a sophomore, Kendall led Charlotte Christian to an NCISAA Class 3A state championship. The move back to Cuthbertson should spark a team that finished just 4-8 in 2013.
 
wU-Tang Vol said:
“I don’t know if I had a Texas offer if things would change or not but I’m definitely comfortable with where I am and I’m coming (to Tennessee),” Dormady told InsideTennessee.
Click to expand...

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Scheduled to be on the roster at quarterback in 2016 are senior Joshua Dobbs, redshirt senior Nathan Peterman, second-year Quinten Dormady and second-year Jauan Jennings. The question begs: How many quarterbacks will Tennessee take in the ’16 class? As we’ve seen with Brandon Stewart, Riley Ferguson, etc., quarterbacks aren’t huge fans of having classmates at their position. If the Vols want to get a commitment from a high-ceiling triggerman, they may have to take just the one and hold on tight. However, that would leave the 2017 roster potentially with Dormady, Jennings and the lone ’16 signee. That brings to mind a big-picture point that recruiting junkies should always stow away. The development of underclassmen on campus already can factor into what's needed in the recruiting game. In this case, if walk-on quarterbacks Will Bradshaw and/or Devin Smith can prove at least serviceable in a pinch, perhaps Bajakian and Jones will be fine with just the one in '16.


Although such a signal-caller is yet to take a snap as a high-school junior, the two names that rest atop the list are Jarrett Guarantano and Austin Kendall or Scout’s No. 10- and 17-rated junior quarterbacks in the nation, respectively. Both have seen games in Neyland Stadium and both have taken at least three trips to Rocky Top. Guarantano was back last weekend and Kendall is expected for his second trip in less than three weeks in the coming days. Kendall told IT that both Jones and Bajakian have him pegged as the No. 1 target for his class.


As for Torrance Gibson, it’s getting increasingly harder to see him winding up as a member Tennessee’s 2015 signing class. The comments the Scout four-star made after attending Friday Night Lights in Columbus, Ohio, strongly suggest coach Urban Meyer left his mark on Gibson the first time the left-hander made it to campus. With so many other schools in Gibson’s top 7 having quarterback commitments his class, including Ohio State, just how many have a spot saved? Tennessee, which isn’t exactly loaded with open scholarships, may have to designate a spot for the defensive side rather than offering it to what would be a third quarterback if Jennings sticks to that side.


Along those same lines, we come to four-star wide receiver Van Jefferson. The Ravenwood High standout still has a committable offer but Ohio State made up ground recently. Again, if the Brentwood native and son of Titans wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson passes on Tennessee, then that scholarship will likely go to a defender. Sources indicate others are using Tennessee’s depth chart to recruit against the Vols. The lone other ’15 commit out wide is five-star Preston Williams. In the 2014 class, the Vols signed Josh Malone, Vic Wharton and JUCO Von Pearson.


Another “take” to keep a close eye on is four-star cornerback Micah Abernathy. Presently, this is another Ohio State-Tennessee battle. Given the family ties with Abernathy’s brother having been recruited to Cincinnati by the now-Vol staff, Tennessee figures to have an ever-so-slight edge but this one is too close to call.


Staying on the defensive side, the clear target that would close out the class at tackle is Shy Tuttle. The Tar Heel State’s No. 1 senior is expected to declare this month. Tennessee is all-in on Tuttle. At linebacker, three “takes” rest at the top of the list in Montavious Atkinson, Quarte Sapp and Roquan Smith. Atkinson is an Auburn commit but has shown interest in wearing orange. Smith is the longshot of the three but has tripped to Knoxville more than once. Sapp is a Miami-Tennessee battle with the Vols having the edge, according to some.


In spite of his publicly refuting as much, IT feels that four-star offensive tackle Drew Richmond is a Tennessee lean. His coming east for Orange Carpet Day with parents was major. He is still slated to make a declaration on Sept. 9, and he could easily pass for the most heavily recruited 2015 prospect in the Volunteer State. True offensive tackles with play-right-away size don’t come along often.


Robert Washington has a legit chance to be Tennessee’s No. 1 target at running back for the ’16 class. The Scout four-star prospect recently revealed a top 5 that includes the Vols alongside Florida, Ohio State, Syracuse and Vanderbilt.


Cameron Ordway is another in-state four-star that’s yet to commit. The Pulaski-based cornerback says he’s pulling the trigger on Aug. 22. Many believe Ordway is an Ole Miss lean currently.


Josh Sweat is the top-ranked senior defensive end in the nation. At least presently, it looks as though the possibility of pairing him with five-star tackle Kahlil McKenzie is no more. Tennessee’s attention at potentially landing another end center around No. 16-ranked Kyle Phillips, No. 24 Darrell Taylor and D’Andre Walker, who Scout ranks as the No. 10 outside linebacker but would play end as a Vol.
 
Oh.. I'm supposed to care about a QB that graduates high school in May 2016. My b
 
Either*Tennessee*second-year coach Butch Jones and offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian had ants in their pants or they were extremely excited to hear*Austin Kendall*tell them he’s going to be a Volunteer.

“They both jumped out of their seats,” Kendall told InsideTennessee. “I sat in coach Jones’ office while coach Jake was in a quarterback meeting. But, coach Jones jumped out of his seat and gave my whole family a hug. It’s definitely a family environment here.”

Kendall was with both his parents for “Orange Carpet Day” two weekends ago. This weekend’s trip included Austin’s father, grandfather and brother.

“What’s not to love about Tennessee,?” said Kendall, who transferred this summer from Charlotte Christian to Cuthbertson (N.C.) High School. “They have a great coaching staff. They’ve been on top of me since my freshman year. Quarterbacks are starting to commit early. When it came down to it, I wouldn’t want anybody taking my spot here at Tennessee, so I picked Tennessee.”

The recruiting cycle is accelerated more now than every in the history of college football. The aforementioned interest shown in the right-handed field general as a prep freshman aided the Big Orange in landing his commitment.

“It’s so important,” Kendall said. “All throughout this process, they’ve been in contact with my coaches, trying to get ahold of me every week. I’ve been able to call at least every other week, except when I’ve been busy. I’ve always had a great relationship with the head coach. I have a great relationship with every coach now. I have a great relationship with (Tennessee tight ends) coach (Mark) Elder. I mean he’s great.”

The Scout four-star prospect and No. 233-rated player in the 2016 signing class is quite familiar with what Tennessee has to offer having made six unofficial visits to Knoxville, including seeing a gameday setting at Neyland Stadium as recent as last November.

Having been at Haslam Field to see the Volunteers practice on Saturday, Kendall got an up-close look at the type skill players with which he’ll have to work, including former Scout four-stars*Jalen Hurd,*Josh Maloneand*Ethan Wolf.

“Their talent is unbelievable,” Kendall said. “At practice, it’s all up-tempo. I love how they do it. I’m just looking forward to getting up here in two years. I’m going to come in early, so I’m definitely looking forward to that and I’m excited.”

Joining the Charlotte, N.C., resident as juniors pledged to the Orange & White are three-star offensive tackle*Ryan Johnsonand three-star cornerbacks*Dorian Banksand*Bailey Phillips. As seen in the past, getting a prized quarterback on the commitment list can oftentimes aid greatly in securing the signature of other offensive weapons.

“It’s going to help a lot just because I’m ranked pretty high,” said Kendall, who Scout has as the No. 17 junior quarterback in the nation. I mean we got a pretty big lineman commitment a couple weeks ago (Johnson). I’m really excited to get to join him.”

Kendall had tentative plans to see games on several college campuses this fall, however, with today’s news, some of those could be scrapped.

“Right now, I mean I don’t know,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to Tennessee football.”

The four-star says he will be in attendance when the Volunteers play Utah State in Knoxville on Aug. 31. He will also see “some other big games.”
 
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