Jeremiah Telander’s commitment may have been lost in the midst of a huge recruiting weekend. It shouldn’t have been.
Telander, a three-star linebacker from Gainesville (Ga.) High School, committed to Tennessee on Sunday over a host of other schools, such as Louisville, North Carolina and Auburn. It wasn’t a “splash” commitment. However, it was one that the Vols can build on.
The 6-foot-2, 217-pound prospect didn’t have the attention of some of the elite programs in the nation. However, there are plenty of traits to like when reviewing Telander’s highlight videos.
“Watching him on tape, I see the production from the middle of their defense, tons of tackle, tons of stops, some for losses,” Chris Landry of Landry Football said during a recent edition of Chalk Talk.
Tennessee has made Telander a priority no matter what recruiting services thought of him. He has been on the Vols radar for over a year and recruited heavily for months by Tennessee.
Landry added that Telander is a “very instinctive” player, plays hard and is aggressive when he gets to the football. Those instincts are what make Telander efficient.
Telander usually makes the correct first step when diagnosing an offensive play, then accelerates confidently to the line of scrimmage. However, Telander can also drop into pass coverage and moves well laterally.
Landry said the intangibles of getting to know Telander were a big part of why the Vols were so high on the 2023 prospect.
“That is something that really sold him,” Landry said. “This can be an anchor guy in the future for their defense.”
Landry said he expects Telander to be a special teams player early in his Tennessee career and a dependable back-up soon after he begins working with the Vols.
