Maybe it’s just the timing thing. Tennessee football landed four commitments in two days a week after hosting a slew of prospects. The Vols picked up two on Friday and two on Saturday. However, a deeper look into the prospects suggest it was a move of desperation by Josh Heupel, and that’s not a good sign.
Things started off with a commitment from Maryland offensive lineman Edward Baker. A three-star across the board out of St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, Md., Baker is an interior offensive lineman despite standing at 6’4″ 335 pounds. He is not even a top 1,100 player in the nation.
Perhaps this is another successful talent evaluation move by Heupel, but considering the fact that he’s entering his fifth year without one player he signed out of high school having started a game yet for him on the offensive line, that seems unlikely. It’s almost as if he just got a body.
Heupel’s second commitment was Virginia linebacker Kendric Golston II. Now, to be fair, ON3 and Rivals have him as a four-star, but 247Sports, ESPN and 247Sports Composite all have him as a three-star. The 6’3″220-pound product of Ashburn, Va., gives off vibes of potential but not generationally great.
The momentum continued into Saturday with the addition of wide receiver Zay Anderson, a three-star across the board out of Texas. Standing at 6’1″ 170 pounds, does anybody think the Greeneville prospect ever work his way into the Vols’ rotation given what Heupel has brought in already at receiver? Texas players are overrated anyway.
By far the best pickup for the Vols over the weekend was their final get, the athlete out of Mesquite, Texas, Legend Bay. However, he was only a four-star on Rivals and ON3 as well. Listed as a quarterback in some places, Bey is technically an athlete and was recruited specifically by Kelsey Pope. At 5’11” 185 pounds, he’ll likely be a receiver.
With these four commitments, Tennessee football jumped back into the top 25, but only up to No. 22 on 247Sports Composite. That’s nowhere near the standard the Vols can meet if they want to be able to compete for championships, and these aren’t recruits they can live off of, so what’s behind all this?
There’s only one logical explanation: Heupel was getting desperate.
Before this weekend, the Vols were outside of the top 50 in most recruiting services. It’s almost July, when the season heats up, and they were struggling to compete with the top schools in the SEC despite Faizon Brandon headlining the class. Heupel had to make a bit of a splash.
Involved in that splash was landing four players who could all be potential overachievers. Heupel went straight for quantity and pushed for their commitments to build up momentum on the trail. Recruiting is about gamesmanship, and Heupel had to play it on this one.
Now, maybe things will change in the near future. Tennessee football is expecting some bigger fish to commit later in the week, and they’re still in the running for some elite prospects. However, this past weekend was not the splash everybody was making it out to be.
