War Room: Fall camp prep continues, recruiting notes/visits, hoops and more
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 that is located only on the General’s Quarters. And now, it’s on with the news.
At SEC Media Days on Thursday, Tennessee made it clear their goal for the 2023 season … win the SEC east. Now, it should be noted every team’s goal is to win a championship, but this Tennessee team truly believes they can line up and compete and beat anyone they play.
That belief stems from their belief in Josh Heupel as well as their belief in quarterback Joe Milton.
“I truly respect Joe Milton so much for the fact that he had every opportunity to leave, every reason to leave. People were talking bad about him. Obviously he loses the job, and all those things, but the fact he did stick through it. He learned a lot. He’s grown a lot the last two years. He definitely has my respect,” tight end Jacob Warren said.
Milton credits his time as the “back up” for his ability to develop the rapport he has with his all of his teammates.
“I think that’s where the backup quarterback role came into play. You get to understand guys more,” Milton said. “Hendon was busy last year, right? It was just how it was this off-season. I’m here and I wasn’t just taking the trips. Last year he came here, right? I mean, same thing for Nico. Nico is at school right now working out with the guys. There’s an opportunity to build as a backup, however you may name it. It’s an opportunity to build amongst the team.
Milton was definitely the Vols media darling in Nashville on Thursday. There were more individual interview request for Milton than Heupel. Milton’s story is unique in that he didn’t leave and his personality, big arm, skill set has plenty of people interested.
“I think one of the great stories in college football in the era of the transfer portal is his trust and ability to recognize areas that he can continue to grow in and trust the people around him; that we have his best interests at heart,” Heupel said of Milton. “Understand that within our scheme, he’s going to have an opportunity to do everything he wants to, which is be one of the best players in college football.
“Through that process over the last, you know, 18 to 24 months, he’s continued to grow in his comfort of who he is, what he’s about and how he wants to attack and approach every single day and how he wants to grow as a football player, meaning fundamentally at the quarterback position, along with understanding offensive and defensive schemes so that he can puts his eyes in the right spot, get his body in the right spot to be consistently accurate with the football, and then how he wants to impact his teammates.”
For the defense it’s about continuing to grow as they did from year one to year two. Last year Tennessee made real strides in defending the run and the redzone. But the Vols still had struggles on third down, especially third and long.
In the second half last year Florida converted 4 of 5 third down attempts of 9+. Georgia converted 2 of 3 3rd and 9+ and South Carolina was 3 of 3 on 3rd and 9+.
To win more on third and long, Tennessee has to rush the quarterback better with the defensive line helping back end coverage and to not have to blitz. Senior Omari Thomas and the defensive line have heard for months about their inability to get to the quarterback.
“That was something as a defensive line we just wanted to work on more. We don’t want to have to bring pressures. We want to be able to just rush four so we have been working with trainers and coaches to improve ourselves. We have been working on pass rush moves and how to read different stances and sets. Everything that goes into a play because it’s not just all about rushing the quarterback. This off-season we have really just been focusing on the little things, the small details. Something we noticed last year is that we just had a lot of miscommunications where we might not have gotten beat because of it, but there were errors we need to fix. That’s something we have locked into this off-season.”
One guy who generated some fan buzz the last few weeks is McCallan Castles who tweeted out some weight room pics. Warren knows he needs help at the tight end position and has been impressed with Castles growth/development this summer.
“McCallan being an older guy like myself with a lot of experience,” Warren offered. “Obviously coming from the west coast it a little bit different but not really it’s ball. He has a lot of football experience. He approaches the game in a really cool way where he holds himself to such a high standard and truly expects the most out of himself. He has rubbed off in me in a way. I see him going really hard and not beat himself up, but understanding every rep is super critical and vital. His attention to detail has been super cool to see and has helped me a lot the last few months.”
Another name we have heard some buzz on is another transfer who’s settling in and that’s Texas offensive line transfer Andrej Karic. Karic has spent a lot of time in the film room trying to get up to speed on the Vols offense and he shouldn’t be forgotten about in the battle at left guard.
Tennessee will hit the practice field a week from Wednesday after holding their local media day on Tuesday.
Recruiting
Mike Matthews was obviously big news when the 5-star wide receiver picked Tennessee on Wednesday night. He let Tennessee know over a week ago and the staff was thrilled to get this one across the finish line.
Now attention turns to Edwin Spillman, who will announce his decision at 2:30 eastern on Friday. The Lipscomb linebacker will pick between the Vols and Ohio State. We have always said it’s hard to see him playing elsewhere. While the Buckeyes put up a good fight, our stance won’t change heading into this decision.
From their eyes will shift to Cai Bates who will announce his decision next Wednesday. Tennessee has held a small lead this month but LSU is still pushing here. A final decision hasn’t been made but heading into the weekend, we haven’t found anyone willing to say things have shifted away from the Vols.
As for Bennett Warren, we did some calling around late in the week and we believe he is truly down to Tennessee and Michigan. He had told us a few weeks back that he may take a visit to Texas A&M late in the month when things open back up, but we no longer feel like that is the case. As for a timeline on when he may commit, we haven’t been able to gather any specific Intel on a decision date or timetable.
Amari Jefferson will visit Tennessee and Alabama next Friday and Saturday before announcing his decision on August 5th at Baylor. We continue to feel like this is a total toss up. We can get behind Alabama holding the slightest of edges but we believe it’s really close, which is why he is taking visits to both again next week. He continues to shine on the baseball field, and while he will definitely be a draft pick, we aren’t sold on him, wanting to play professional baseball over college football.
Danny Okoye is taking a couple of visits next week to Alabama and Oklahoma. Tennessee still holds the advantage with Texas also in play for Okoye. The Tulsa native loves the vibe in Knoxville and is very comfortable with Rocky Top. He will officially visit for the South Carolina game and likely make a decision after that.
We will see if Aydin Breland and Brandon Baker make it in next weekend. The plan is to still be in town but we are in more of a see it to believe it thing just because there was talk in June that never materialized. Maybe this trip is the time they make it to town.
One person who is excited to make it in is Chris Cole. The Virginia linebacker sees the momentum with Tennessee in his recruitment and acknowledges that he is looking forward to going more in-depth this trip. The Vols could build a wave of momentum here with a strong weekend coming up ahead of his potential August decision.
Another one headed for Rocky Top next weekend is Ryan Wingo, who plans on taking things the distance before signing in December.
2024 EDGE Jordan Ross is one many continue to keep their eyes on. He has remained quiet tor a couple of weeks since teasing a possible commitment. At this time, we don’t feel like anything will be done here before later in the fall at the earliest. Tennesee continues to be strong in this one, with LSU and Auburn firmly in the mix. As of now, Ross is not planning to take his previously schedule visit to LSU at the end of this month. He doesn’t plan to take anymore trips until the fall.
Next weekend the Vols will host a recruiting event for mainly 2025 targets. Some names that Tennessee hopes to get in next weekend:
Gavin Hoffman
JaCorey Whitted
Tory Blaylock
Ty Jackson
Donovan Johnson
Jay’len Mosley
Ivan Taylor
Zion Grady
Dylan Lewis
Jackson Cantwell
Martels Carter Jr.
Je’rel Bolder
Isaiah Mozee
Lamason Waller
Cam Sparks
Shavar Young
Alvin Henderson
Chandler Jordan
Chauncey Gooden
Kelan Butler
Zay Minish
Ty Redmond
Christian Jones
Mariyon Dye
Hoops
It was a bit of a surprise Thursday afternoon when four-star shooting guard AustinSwartz announced his top eight schools and Tennessee wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t a surprise to the Vols, though.
Tennessee had made Swartz a priority in the spring and summer, but the coaching staff had started to back off the recruitment a bit since the live-evaluation period at Peach Jam earlier this month.
As for other names in 2024, Tennessee is still in pursuit of four-star point guard Bishop Boswell. The Vols, who made a more recent offer to Boswell than other schools, will have ground to make up on the likes of Xavier, Wake Forest, Missouri and others. The 6-foot-5, 195-pound prospect out of Charlotte is the No. 50 overall player in the On3 ratings and the No. 7 point guard in the class.
Four-star small forward Chase McCarty is another name high on Tennessee’s board and he’s scheduled to visit the Vols at some point in August. The 6-foot-5, 200-pound McCarty, out of Huntsville, Ala., is the No. 70 overall player in 2024 and is ranked No. 23 among small forwards. He’s the No. 1 overall player in the state of Alabama.
Pharaoh Compton, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound power forward at Compass Prep in Arizona could be a name to watch. He’s the No. 76 overall player in the 2024 class and could visit the Vols this fall.
Tennessee is looking to fill a couple slots in the 2024 class and will also emphasize the NCAA Transfer Portal in the spring.
Along with 2024 prospects, the Vols will also look to get a few 2025 visitors on campus this fall. Names to know include four-star Link Academy point guard Aaron Rowe (No. 19 overall), arguably the top name on Tennessee’s board in 2025, along with five-star Atlanta power forward Caleb Wilson (No. 5 overall), four-star Houston small forward Sebastian Williams-Adams(No. 46 overall), four-star Houston power forward John Clark (No. 71 overall), four-star Nebraska power forward A’mare Bynum (No. 79 overall) and three-star shooting guard Amari Evans (No. 118 overall).
On the floor with the current team, Tennessee coaches still feel really good about this roster and what they’ve seen this summer, especially its depth even after Chris Ledlum’s departure last week (he landed with St. John’s, as expected), on Wednesday).
In the paint, the Vols feel good about Jonas Aidoo making the necessary progress to become the man at center. They like what they saw from Tobe Awaka in the FIBA U-19 World Cup earlier this summer and they like the aggressiveness and confidence he’s shown in Pratt Pavilion as he makes the jump from his freshman to sophomore seasons.
Ledlum’s departure perhaps has the biggest impact on freshman center JP Estrella. He’ll have to be ready to step in and contribute should there be any injuries in the post. And overall he’ll just have to play a slightly bigger role than the Vols were previously planning for, before Ledlum left. Head coach Rick Barnes has spoke well of Estrella and the work he’s put in this summer and his level of competitiveness as a freshman.
Obviously Tennessee will use fifth-year senior Josiah-Jordan James as a four in the post, too. And the Vols can and will put Dalton Knecht down there as well when they want to play smaller and matchup in certain situations.
The feedback continues to be very high on Knecht, who has shown this summer that he can score the ball at this level. He’s also stepped in and played with an edge in workouts with his new teammates, something Tennessee certainly needed to add.
Tennessee coaches have also spoken highly about Freddie Dilione. Specifically the confidence and ability to score they’ve seen from him as he runs the point in place of Zakai Zeigler.
Baseball
Things are beginning to slow down in terms of roster management for the Tennessee baseball team with just two big questions remaining at current standing. Who will transfer pitcher Luke Holman choose and what will Zande Denton decide? Both are still in waiting patterns.
As we mentioned on the GQ earlier this week, it’s a massive visit week for Luke Holman. The former Crimson Tide hurler stopped by Knoxville first late Sunday night and was here all day on Monday. Mississippi State was next on Tuesday afternoon and then we believe he was at LSU on Wednesday and Auburn on Thursday. Holman will hear from Alabama one final time before making his decision.
In our opinion, we do not believe Alabama is in play. The final meeting between the two sides could be out of mutual respect more than anything for pitching coach Jason Jackson, who remains on staff. The Holmans were very close to Brad Bohannon and he was the reason Luke went to Alabama in the first place. We believe it would be extremely dificult for him to return since entering the portal.
There’s been some rumors out there regarding Mississippi State and the Holman visit. It’s obviously a factor – as it got him in town – but we believe this to still be a two-team race between the Vols and LSU. A lot can change over the course of a week’s worth of visits, but those have been the two favorites in play throughout the entire process. Auburn has made a late push, but we still believe them to be down the pecking order.
Again, things can always change, but Tennessee entered the week as the leader and the Vols knocked it out of the park on Monday. As noted, the Holmans really like the recruiting approach by Tony Vitello and Frank Anderson. They are aggressive, but not over the top like other coaches in the running. That’s something that has really stood out to Luke. It’s been about surviving the week if you are Tennessee and we will see if it does after Luke gives it some thought. We believe a decision could come as early as this weekend or next week as the pitcher wants to mull over his options.
As far as Zane Denton, his goal is to play professional baseball. The thought was that he would likely sign for just about anything and go ahead and begin his pro career as he’s already nearly 23-years-old. With that said, he’s still yet to sign an undrafted free agent deal. So, it’s pretty much the same as last week. As long as he remains unsigned, the likelihood of him returning to take advantage of the COVID year at Tennessee increases. He continues to weigh his options and will eventually make a decision on his future.
The Vols could also continue to explore shortstop options remaining in the transfer portal.
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