KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Vols ended the first day of the early signing period with a top-15 signing class after fifteen players signed their national letter of intent to play for the University of Tennessee on Wednesday.
Head coach Jeremy Pruitt and his staff had seven four-star and eight three-star prospects according to the 247 Sports Composite.
Below is a breakdown of each of the 15 signees from Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt.
Trinity Bell, Tight End
Albertville, Alabama
“A guy that actually was in the seventh grade, my dad was the head football coach there and he called me and said, ‘listen, there’s a kid here in the seventh grade…I don’t know if he’s going to play in the NFL or play in the NBA, but he’s going to play somewhere. I want to bring him down and introduce him to you.’ So, he’s a young man that I’ve known probably since he was 12 or 13 years old – he was probably 6-4 then. But a guy that’s 6-7-plus, 265 pounds, plays tight end, can play multiple positions. Plays defensive end. A guy that’s just extremely athletic. I talked to him the other night after a basketball game and I said, ‘so how many points did you have?’ He said, ‘I had seven dunks.’ So, I said, ‘did you make any free throws?’ He said, ‘I was 5-for-5.’ So, a guy that’s really, really athletic.”
Miles Campbell, Tight End
Douglasville, Georgia
“A guy that will be midyear (enrollee). Very good student, athletic. If you watch his tape, he kind of plays all over the field. His junior year in high school he played a lot of quarterback. A guy that we’re going to focus at tight end. You watch his senior tape, he’s a guy that plays wide receiver, plays defensive line – so he kind of plays all over the field. A very instinctive guy.”
Charles Campbell, Defensive Back
Gainesville, Georgia
“A guy that played high school quarterback, but he’s going to play defensive back for us. A really good athlete. Didn’t get a chance to run track his junior year. He’s another guy that’s going to be a midyear; a really good student. A guy that is probably a 10.6, 10.7 (100-meter dash) guy that weighs 185 pounds. Very instinctive, tough. A guy that we’re excited to have in our program.”
Katron Evans, Defensive Line
Chesapeake, Virginia
“I can remember Katron when he’d come in, he was in about the eighth for ninth grade, coming to a camp. He looked like he could play then for us. A guy that’s played in a really good program. He didn’t get a chance to play his senior year because they didn’t have football there at St. Frances, but a guy that can really play up and down the line of scrimmage. I went last year and watched him practice there in Baltimore and I came back and somebody asked me what that team looked like. I said, ‘they looked like the Pittsburgh Steelers.’ That’s the biggest bunch of high school kids I’ve ever seen and Katron’s a guy that really stuck out to me.”
Tiyon Evans, Running Back
Hartsville, South Carolina
“A guy that we felt like is one of the premier running backs in the country. A guy that will be here midyear also. We’ll be excited to get him – feel like he’s a guy that can play all three downs. Has return ability. He’s probably 220 pounds. Really good hands out of the backfield, good blocker. A guy that can make you miss, can run with power, can run in between the tackles, can get out there on the perimeter. A guy that has lots of explosive ability.”
J’Marion Gooch, Offensive Line
Gallatin, Tennessee
“He came to our camp two years ago and had never participated in football. It was probably one of the first times after saying, ‘I’m going to start playing football.’ We had him in camp and he’s just a big massive and athletic guy, but a guy that’s very instinctive. He has tons of upside, plays with an edge, and someone that feels like could probably play up and down the line of scrimmage. We’re excited about him.”
Amari McNeill, Defensive Line
Suwanee, Georgia
“He’s a guy that we kind of got in with late in the process, and there’s lots of guys like that this year because of the lack of spring recruiting and summer camps. Kind of through diligence of working the phones, we came across this guy. He played left tackle on his high school, he also played defensive tackle. He’s a guy that we think is extremely athletic and can play on either side of the ball. We’re excited about having him in our program.”
Walker Merrill, Wide Receiver
Brentwood, Tennessee
“He’s a guy that we’ve been recruiting for a while since we’ve been here. Just a really good playmaker, very instinctive, plays with lots of toughness, had a great senior season, a guy that will be a mid-year enrollee, and guy that will be in our wide receiver rotation pretty quick.”
Julian Nixon, Wide Receiver
Roswell, Georgia
“I’ve known Julian’s dad since we were in high school. We grew up in the same hometown and played college ball together. We used to drive back and forth to school together. Julian is a guy that is 6-4, he’s probably 235 or 240 pounds. He’s very athletic, has huge hands and just really tracks the ball extremely well. He’s a mismatch type of guy out there on the perimeter and one we’re excited about for sure.”
William Parker, Offensive Line
Nashville, Tennessee
“This says he’s 6-5 and 305, but the last time I saw William he was probably 6-5 and about 335. He’s a guy that to me is probably one of the better athletic big men in the entire country. He’s a guy that could really play on either side of the ball, but we’re going to play him on offense. He comes from a program at Pearl-Cohn where they’ve had a lot of success. We have one of his teammates here and he’s a guy that we’ve recruited for about three years now. Probably one of the first times I went on the road, I saw him sitting in there in the gym at Pearl-Cohn. I’m looking and there’s this kid that’s very large and has on boots and is dunking it any way he wants to. Then the coach there tells me that he’s just getting him out there for football. He’s a guy that excited about having for sure.”
Kaidon Salter, Quarterback
Cedar Hill, Texas
“He’s a guy that we targeted very early in the process. He plays in one of the better leagues down there in Texas. He’s having a phenomenal year down there. He’s a winner, he’s a leader and he and Williams both will be here mid-year. A guy that we can’t wait to get here in the spring.”
Aaron Willis, Linebacker
Midlothian, Virginia
“He played at Life Christian Academy this year, but played at St. Frances before. Obviously, St. Frances didn’t play, so he wanted to go somewhere where he could play and found a home. He’s a guy that, again, we’ve been recruiting for a long time, has a great motor and probably can play all the spots at inside linebacker for us. He’s a great special teams player; he’s all over the field, and a guy that we’re absolutely excited about.”
Cody Brown, Running Back
Lilburn, Georgia
“Cody’s a guy that rushed for over 5,000 yards in his career, and that’s hard to do anywhere. He’s a guy that’s used to having the ball in his hand and runs behind his pads. He has really good vision, is a really good student, and is a guy that’s been committed to us for a long time, and we’re glad that we have him.”
Jaylen Wright, Running Back
Durham, North Carolina
“Jaylen is an athlete that we’ll probably play at running back and kick returner. He’s a guy that you want to get the ball to out in space. I think last winter, he ran the second-fastest 60-meter time in the country. He’s a guy that weighs 205 pounds and will probably weigh 215. He has really good speed and can assist us really early on in the return game.”
Byron Young, Linebacker
Hemingway, South Carolina
