War Room — Tennessee host recruits ahead of the start of fall camp
We begin this edition of the War Room as we always do. The War Room is a collective effort of Tennessee notes and news gathered throughout the week by the Volquest staff. And now, it’s on with the news.
It’s go-time for the Vols as practice starts on Wednesday. Strength coach Kurt Schmidt and his staff are handing over the team to the coaches after completing the summer phase of the off-season program.
We noted last week some of the significant weight changes as this team is bigger and stronger.
Head coach Josh Heupel has made it clear he likes this team. He likes their depth and leadership. The message conveyed this week to Volquest is that this team does a good job of holding each other accountable.
Not it’s about development on the field and finding the final pieces to the puzzle particularly in the secondary and at left guard.
At left guard, because he missed most of last season and spring, Andre Karic has kind of been the forgotten man. Karic is healthy and has had a solid summer. Remember he as a starter a year ago and would have been the starter at left guard even if Cooper Mays had been healthy which forced the staff to juggle some parts up front.
At safety it’s a competition for starting jobs. That’s the same story at nickel and with the team entering fall camp as Heupel’s deepest team and a team that’s healthy, there should be some real competition over the next month.
While fall camp beginning on Wednesday it the priority for most fans, it was a busy week in terms of football not specific to this team.
The discussion of 105 scholarships appears to be going from discussion to happening. This fall, counting walk ons, Tennessee will have around 130 on the roster. The move to 105 means the elimination of the walk-on program and there are some who believe the number next fall will be 105 scholarships.
So this is more than just talk. The additional scholarships will mean more expenses for the school, but there will be less money spent if you have 25 fewer players receiving things like food, nutrition, gear, and healthcare.
Now you don’t have go to have 105 players on scholarship, that will be your choice. But you can operate on the assumption that everyone will use all 105 spots. Of course Tennessee is in the middle of scholarship reductions, and the question is, can you just take the first year and do all the reductions and be done with it.
The ruling says at least two per year for the probationary period. So you could read that to be that you have to have taken away at least two every year through the five year probation. Or can you just weed them all out now. That appears up for discussion.
The renderings of the entertainment district got everyone’s attention. Keep in mind that those are the first edition renderings and not finalized plans. It’s inevitable that there will be tweaks and changes.
Everyone is obviously asking about the G-10 parking garage. As developers dove into the project and researched things, that garage is 34 years old and with the scope of the project this big in this edition of the entertainment district concept developers feel a new garage is needed.
Logistically that is a large undertaking. Could you do it between football seasons? What’s the impact of basketball parking and concert parking plus obviously student parking?
Those are all things that have been, and will continue be, points of discussion moving forward with the project.
While that item grabbed the attention of fans this week, the push is on at Neyland Stadium to be ready for the season opener on August 31st. There’s a lot of work being done around the G-10 garage and in the Tee Martin Drive area to be ready for the new student gate and the traffic flow to the Gate Four area. They are still moving dirt and working the southwest corner area before getting to a stopping place there.
They are basically at a stopping place for the Founder’s Suites and there’s a lot to do on the second floor concourse in the north end where new restrooms are going in.
The electrical contractor is restoring wi-fi in the south end and along the west side reinstalling access points that were removed at seasons end for the construction. They are also adding some more access points including a couple at field level for better wi-fi in the sideline area.
Inside work continues in the skyboxes which are getting a pretty significant make over with work on the ceilings and the floors among other improvements.
And they have just over 31 days to get things cleaned up and at a stopping point. That also includes restoring part of Phillip Fulmer Way in front of the stadium that has been torn up for months. It does appear they have gotten the utility work done and are filling that large trench.
At Lindsey Nelson Stadium, the press box continues to come down piece by piece. The line poles along right field have been removed and excavating work is being done on the area with the concourse is going to be expanded.
Recruiting
We are inching closer and closer to August 17th for five-star offensive tackle David Sanders. Sanders is currently in Lincoln, Neb., where he will visit the Cornhuskers for just the second time. Late on Saturday morning, he will get on a plane for Knoxville and head to Rocky Top for his final visit with Tennessee before his decision.
Nebraska has been sneaky in this one for the last several weeks. Charlotte does have direct flights to Omaha with a 45 minute drive to Lincoln. The biggest question is, where does Ohio State stand in all of this? He is obviously not visiting there this weekend and you certainly can’t discount them, but we continue to feel like Tennessee remains in a really good spot here heading into this weekend.
Give the Sanders family a lot of credit because they have handled the recruitment really well and have given their son every opportunity to look at each school multiple times.
Oregon commit Dasaahn Brame got into town on Thursday night. It’s not if, but when will be flip to Tennessee? We don’t think it will be on Saturday as Shaedy Hayward will announce his decision that day. So it could come as early as Friday or as late as Sunday. As we have told you for the last several weeks, Brame is just comfortable and happy in Knoxville.
As for Hayward, he is coming to town for his birthday and his announcement. Tennessee has always been in a good spot in this one as the defensive staff made him a priority and showed him how his versatility could play well here.
USC commit Daune Morris is an interesting prospect heading into the weekend. De’Rail Sims has turned up the contact the last six weeks and we expect them to push harder and harder in the coming weeks. We aren’t looking for him to flip this weekend, but we do believe there is a great chance long-term that Tennessee could potentially flip the Oakland playmaker.
Onis Konanbanny will be in town again as the Vols continue to be the team setting the pace in this recruitment. FSU continues to swing but we feel like it’s going to be hard for them to catch Tennessee in this one.
Jack Van Dorselaer was supposed to come in but made the decision last week to stay home and come for an extra game this fall instead of just a recruiting weekend in July.
Eyes will be on Jadon Perlotte to see if he makes it in this weekend. We have seen the predictions over the last month come rolling in for him to Tennessee and all of that has been warranted. He has said and continues to say all the right things but has yet to pull the trigger. Why is that? We don’t know the answer, but what we do know is that he has went quiet on all media covering him over the last several weeks.
One uncommitted player we are watching this weekend is St. Francis DT Darrion Smith. That one Tennessee has continued to work so we will be interested to see what comes out of this weekend with him.
Faizon Brandon rolls into town ahead of his decision next weekend. The top QB in the 2026 class is one Tennessee targeted last summer and he repaid that interest with numerous visits. Other schools have tried and tried to flip Tennessee’s momentum, but have come up empty to this point.
Prospects who are slated to be in town this weekend:
Shaedy Hayward
Onis Konanbanny
Khamari Bing
Tylen Matthews
Dijon Wilson
Jase Rhodes
Ace Alston
Jadon Perlotte
CJ Gamble
Derek Uran
Rodney Dunham
Xavier Griffin
Tristian Givens
Ethan Utley
Darrion Smith
Tajh Overton
Tyson Bacon
Luke Wafle
Zach Groves
JJ Finch
Keldric Golston
Carter Luckie
Jaylen Mercer
David Sanders Jr.
Nic Moore
Sam Greer
Scottland Dover
DaSaahn Brame
Carson Sneed
Tyreek King
Deion Thomas
Travis Johnson
Daune Morris
George MacIntyre
Faizon Brandon
Hoops
With coaches now off the road recruiting for the summer the focus for the staff is now exclusively on the offseason program.
Not that offseason work ever stops or isn’t always point of emphasis, but it’s a different vibe when ‘all hands are on deck’ and the entire staff is in the gym with the team.
We’re still a long way from knowing what the final picture is going to look like with this team, but right now there seems to be plenty of reason to think that Rick Barnes will once again have a team competing for an SEC title and one that’s capable of making a deep run in March.
Chaz Lanier was understandably a much coveted prospect in the transfer portal with his scoring prowess and status as an in-state guy. He has certainly not disappointed this summer, he looks like someone who is going to provide some offensive punch for sure. But the staff seems to be feeling pretty good about all four of the transfers.
Tennessee probably hasn’t had a guy like Igor Milicic since Barnes has been here. He’s a legit 6-10 guy that can bang inside and step out and consistently hit the three.
I don’t know that it would be entirely accurate to say that Milicic and Okpara are ‘better’ than the duo of Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka, but it might be safe to say that the style of that duo is more in line with what Barnes wants in the post.
Okpara probably won’t have an offensive set called for him all year long and he won’t mind. He’s a high level rim protector, a high-motor guy on the boards and someone who is probably going to catch a couple of alley-oops from Zakai Zeigler every game.
As we noted on the board earlier this week it looks like the staff is going to see if Darlinstone Dubar can flourish in the Josiah-Jordan James ‘small-ball-four-role.’ We wouldn’t say that’s going to be the only way Dubar is going to get on the floor at all, but obviously with the success Barnes has had going small with James over the last couple of years the head coach wants to keep that card up his sleeve.
On the recruiting front now that the summer evaluation period is over the next step is to see who is coming in for an official visit and maybe when.
That is still a very fluid situation at the moment, but we have a few dates set and a list of likely visitors.
Point guard Darius Adams, the No. 18 overall prospect in the 2024 class, is slated to be in to kick things off on Sept. 13. Tennessee has been on Adams for a long while and he made an unofficial visit last fall. Michigan State and UConn are two of the major competitors there.
Four star shooting guard Braylon Mullins from Indiana, the No. 26 overall player in the ’24 class, is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 19.
Other prospects we feel fairly confident will be official visitors this fall—but don’t have dates written in stone yet—are five-star Caleb Wilson, the No. 4 overall player in the ’24 class.
Four-star point guard Acaden Lewis, one of the highest rising prospects of the summer is a likely visitor. Tennessee didn’t really get on him hard until the spring but made themselves a factor.
Four-star power forward Zymicha Wilkins from Christ School is another potential visitor in October.
Five-star forward Nate Ament, the No. 7 overall player in the class, from is a possible visitor though he may potentially wait until the spring to make a decision.
Four-star point guard Isaiah Dennis from the Charlotte area isn’t someone we’ve talked a lot about, but that’s one to keep an eye on as a possible visitor depending on how things go with Lewis. The same could probably be said for four-star point guard Chance Mallory out of Charlottesville.
Virginia is involved with both Lewis and Mallory, so that could be something to pay attention to in regards to their recruitment.
Lastly, four-star wing Tounde Yessoufou, an Admiral Schofield-type, from California is someone that Tennessee is putting some effort into trying to make a trip to Knoxville for an official visit.
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