Go Vols.
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Vols aim for Top 10 recruiting class
Posted: Feb 01, 2011 6:09 PM EST
Updated: Feb 02, 2011 9:36 AM EST
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley and his assistants combed the Southeast for months to recruit talented high school football players that would help bring the Vols back to national prominence.
Wednesday was the first day high school students could officially commit to a college football program, and it was a day for the coaches to count the results of their efforts.
This signing day will be different than last year's in at least one way. A year ago Dooley was trying to catch his breath after just two weeks on the job. The coach and his new staff had to dash across the country to secure a signing class after Lane Kiffin's sudden departure in late January.
Six recruits were already signed and delivered before National Signing Day. They are enrolled in classes and will be eligible to participate in spring drills.
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Byron Moore Announcement: What JUCO Recruit Means for Tennessee Football
Derek Dooley's first season in Knoxville was a trying one. The Vols had to scratch and claw just to muster up a 6-7 season that was capped off by a controversial loss in a second-tier bowl game to a North Carolina squad that was battered by injury and suspension.
If you were to look back through the history of the Tennessee football program, a season like the Vols had in 2010 isn't likely to stand out as anything but average.
Yet most Vol fans would be quick to point out that even making a bowl game with the deficiencies that the university had to deal with last season was actually beyond expectations.
It's hard to believe that a fanbase that can proudly claim six national championships would be happy with a six-win season, but with just 72 players on scholarship, reasonable Volunteer fans were exactly that...happy.
The clear lack of depth in 2010 made this recruiting class beyond pivotal and, in my opinion, this may wind up being the most important recruiting class the Vols have had in the last 10 years or more.
However, it's difficult to assume that a group of high school seniors are going to be able to immediately bolster the depth of a football team that plays in the toughest conference in the country, the SEC.
So the Vols coaching staff turned their attention towards the junior college ranks in an effort to find a handful of players who could be expected to come in and immediately contribute for Dooley's crew.
Oh, how they have succeeded.
Last night at nearly midnight in Knoxville, thousands of Volunteer fans listened to an obscure Internet radio program about Los Angeles area high school and college football to hear the announcement of 4-star JUCO DB Byron Moore.
Two weeks ago, Internet message boards like Volquest and VolNation rejoiced to hear that another 4-star JUCO DB, Izauea Lanier, had committed to the Volunteers, too.
Perhaps the largest sigh of relief moment for Vol fans in the past six months on the recruiting trail came back in November, when the Vols got a commitment from 4-star JUCO DT Maurice Couch.
The Vols currently have 25 commitments and look to add to that in the next 24 hours. However, these are the guys that you are going to be hearing the most about in 2011.
Why?
Because having spent a year or more in an actual college football program, either at another BCS school or at their respective junior colleges, these are the prospects whom this coaching staff is banking on to help immediately if the 2011 Vols are going to be successful.
These are the guys that are more physically ready to contribute than their high school counterparts, and are probably going to find themselves in the two-deep from day one on campus because of the need at their positions (DB and DT).
Moore is a dynamic talent and a natural safety, but it appears that he will make the transition to corner for the Vols in 2011 and will likely battle with guys like Eric Gordon and Marsalis Teague to earn a starting role opposite of Prentiss Waggner.
Lanier is listed as an athlete and has the versatility to be a factor at corner or at safety behind cemented starters Janzen Jackson and Brent Brewer.
Couch may be the linchpin of the class at possibly the biggest position of need, defensive tackle. At times last season, the Vols had four healthy defensive tackles in their rotation and were forced to often slide undersized defensive ends to the interior just to have the extra bodies.
A strong showing in fall camp from Couch will likely cement him as a starter in Week 1 and due to the direness of the situation at DT, he may even be in the two-deep if he were to be playing on crutches.
The Vols aren't necessarily done in the junior college ranks either.
Four-star DE Leon Mackey will decide tomorrow morning between Mississippi State and the Vols, and could provide immediate help to the Vols front four as well.
Mackey wouldn't be a lock to make it on to campus even if he were to sign with the Vols, but at 260 pounds he is another JUCO guy who could be versatile enough to play as an end or a tackle in defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox's system.
A glance at the Vols commitment list makes it clear that they are making a concerted effort to find immediate help from community colleges across the nation and, while only time will tell, I think they just may have found what they were looking for in 2011.
