Tennessee baseball commit, 4-star WR Amari Jefferson previews upcoming football decision

Chattanooga (Tenn.) Baylor School four-star wide receiver Amari Jefferson has been committed to the Tennessee Volunteers’ baseball program for two years. At one point, he was unsure if he would continue playing football.

But this past fall, football began to take precedence in Jefferson’s recruitment.

Now, Jefferson is poised to make his college decision to play college football at either Georgia, Alabama or Tennessee.

“Things have definitely shifted, I’d say really starting my freshman year,” Jefferson told On3. “I was talking with Miami, Georgia Tech and Tennessee for baseball — this was before I committed to Tennessee. I tore my MCL my freshman fall playing football, so I didn’t really know if I was going to continue to play football. So then I ended up committing to Tennessee that spring.

“I decided to play football my sophomore year and had a pretty good sophomore year, ended up getting two or three offers during the year like Virginia Tech and Kentucky. Then a couple of weeks into the summer, I got Georgia and Tennessee. That’s when I was kind of like, this could be taking a turn to be a football decision.

“Then I’ve really had a major junior year and a lot of offers started to roll in during the winter. Then the last couple of months, me and my parents have been like, it’s really a football decision but baseball is still in the picture because of just my talent and ability to still play baseball at the next level.”

Jefferson has a ‘football decision’ to make

That football decision comes down to arguably the two most successful programs in the sport right now and the fast-rising in-state school.

What narrowed Jefferson’s decision down to these three schools was their consistency from the moment they started recruiting him. For Georgia and Tennessee, that relationship with the football staff has been steady for about a year. Whereas Alabama has come on strong the last six to seven months.

“The thing that kind of stood out from all three schools was the connection I had with the staff,” Jefferson said. “Just the family environment and the feel that I had every time I went up there. My parents liked it every time we’ve been up to all three schools. So I’d say they’ve just always been consistent from the get-go.”

Jefferson said the pitches from each school are mostly the same thing but with a unique twist to each school. At Georgia, coach Kirby Smart doesn’t talk about Georgia.

“Every time you meet with Kirby when you flew in, he didn’t really talk about anything about Georgia,” Jefferson said. “Because we all know what Georgia is. So he kind of just was catching up.”

At Alabama, it’s about the relationships with the coaching staff and how they have connected with him and his family. Tennessee drills down on the in-state connection.

“I think they really just sell being the hometown kid and how much that can help me throughout life,” Jefferson said about Tennessee. “The memories and stuff like that, being the hometown kid coming up to Knoxville and playing and helping them try to win a national championship.”

Two final visits

Jefferson took two final visits to Alabama and Tennessee last weekend to see everything one last time before he makes his college decision.

“Really just to see the staffs for a final time before I commit on August 5,” Jefferson said. “And really just to see what the final ‘everything’ was. It’s been a long process with both schools so just kind of wrapping it up and seeing them. I really just wanted to see one more time before I finally commit.”

For Jefferson, he has three keys for choosing where to play college football. Like many recruits, he wants to feel like a priority to the program. Consistency throughout his recruitment is also big, as is the relationship between the staff and his family.

He will announce his decision between Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee live on the On3 YouTube channel on Aug. 5 at 4:15pm ET.

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