War Room — Recruiting travels, visit, construction work, 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. And now, it’s on with the news.
Let’s kick things off on the recruiting front as things are slow on the football side of things.
NFL Academy athlete Emmanuel Okoye is scheduled to announce his decision on Wednesday. He announced his final three of Tennessee, Texas Tech and Southern Cal this week. He really enjoyed his time in Knoxville with fans on campus last month and in our opinion that left a big impression on him. Tennessee continues to trend in this one.
JJ Harrell has made some waves with his recent talk of his recruitment being very much open. Ole Miss and others were never going away so Tennessee was always going to have a fight on its hands to keep Harrell in the fold. Kelsey Pope was in Mississippi to check on him on Thursday as Tennessee battles to try to hold on.
Elsewhere, Pope stopped by Baylor School in Chattanooga to check on Amari Jefferson, who remains a top priority for the Vols in this class. Jefferson hopes to return to Knoxville later in the month for Memorial Day weekend. While many may talk about Ryan Wingo or Mike Matthews, Jefferson is just as big of a priority.
At running back, Tennessee continues to have a ton of momentum with Peyton Lewis as he and Jerry Mack have an outstanding relationship. Outside of that, we think the Vols could look to play the long game with Nathaniel Frazier and a couple of others.
Daniel Hill is supposed be in town for Memorial Day weekend and if things go well there then that would help their chances to be in this one deep into the end.
In our estimation, Tennessee will take one more corner, possibly two. The Vols have a good amount of momentum with Chase Tyler and Cai Bates. Tyler feels like one worth watching over the next month or so as visits get going.
Tennessee is likely to take two linebackers and with most thinking Edwin Spillman is likely to end up in Knoxville, the question becomes who would be the second backer? Tylen Singleton continues to have great dialogue with Tennessee. His visits will ultimately decide things but we feel like there is some real optimism there on the Tennessee side. After that, Jordan Ross and Chris Cole would also be good options.
At LEO, Tennessee is going to shoot their shot with Dylan Stewart and Elijah Rushing, but both Danny Okoye and Ross are likely more realistic options.
Week three on the road for the Tennessee coaches during the evaluation period was a busy one.
Joey Halzle checked in on top offensive targets during the week. He started with a stop at Salem High School in Virginia to check on Peyton Lewis. The Vols remain in good shape here ahead of official visits, with South Carolina remaining the primary competition. Halzle traveled to the Midwest to check on Ryan Wingo, William Satterwhite, Grant Brix and Marques Easley as well. On Thursday, he spent time in Mississippi checking on current commit JJ Harrell and running back target Daniel Hill. Halzle will end his week checking in on numerous guys in the mid-state, including 2025 QB George MacIntyre and 2024 OL Ronan O’Connell.
Tim Banks worked multiple days in Florida during the week stopping by the schools of several of the state’s best younger prospects. He also stopped in to check on fast-rising 2024 cornerback Cai Bates, who is planning an official visit to Knoxville in June. On Thursday, Banks checked on long-time cornerback target Aaron Scott before making multiple stops in Maryland, including at St. Frances Academy.
Mike Ekeler worked in the Northeast to start the week and checked on several of the powerhouse programs in New Jersey and Philadelphia. He also spent time in North Carolina checking on various prospects.
Alec Abeln checked in on several tight ends in the 2024 class during his week of travels. Abeln started the week in Georgia watching Caleb Odom get in work at Carrolton High School. He made a stop in Alabama to check on fast-rising tight end JaCorey Whitted before heading west to check on Roger Saleapaga in Utah.
Jerry Mack worked through multiple schools in the Memphis area early in the week before making his way to Arkansas to check on 2024 running back target Braylen Russell. Russell still feels like an Arkansas-Tennessee battle heading into official visits. Mack also checked in on some younger running back prospects in Texas during his week of travels.
Brian Jean-Mary made stops at several major programs in the state of Florida on Monday. Jean-Mary also spent multiple days in Georgia, checking on some of the Peach State’s premier programs. The Vols extended an offer to fast-rising linebacker Kenyon Rivera at Buford during the week. Jean-Mary also checked on 2024 linebacker target Jordan Burns. The Vols continue to pace the way in this recruitment ahead of June official visits, in our opinion. Jean-Mary will end the week by checking on Edwin Spillman at Lipscomb Academy’s College Showcase.
Willie Martinez worked extensively in Georgia during the week as well. Martinez made stops to check on 2025 DB commit Shamar Arnoux, as well as 2024 DB prospect Chase Tyler. The Vols have continued to keep tabs on Tyler for some time now. Martinez will return to the state of Tennessee on Friday and make stops to check on Marcus Goree, Boo Carter, Martels Carter, Kaleb Beasley, and others.
Rodney Garner stopped by the schools of some big-name prospects in Alabama to start the week, including Jordan Ross, Jared Smith, and Na’eem Offord. Ross continues to say a lot of good things about the Vols, but as he noted in our update on Thursday, his recruitment still has a long way to go. Oregon and USC are other schools now slotted to likely get an OV at some point in the fall. On Wednesday, Garner checked on long-time defensive target Kameryn Fountain in Atlanta. Garner will end the week on Friday by making a stop at Lake Cormorant in Mississippi to take in Kamrion Franklin’s spring game.
Glen Elarbee stopped by multiple schools in the Atlanta area to start the week before traveling to Texas on Wednesday to check on 2024 offensive tackle target Bennett Warren. Elarbee will end the week in Nashville on Friday by making stops to check on Jesse Perry and Ronan O’Connell. O’Connell is currently playing things close to the vest, and while Wisconsin is still slated for an official visit, this one feels more like a Tennessee-Clemson battle, with the Vols feeling like they have some momentum ahead of official visits.
Kelsey Pope had a busy week of travel as well. He made stops in Alabama and checked on several programs in the area to start the week. On Tuesday, Pope stopped by the school of five-star Mike Matthews to check on the elite prospect. This one feels like Tennessee-USC right now. Alabama and Georgia will get their chances on OVs, but the Vols and Trojans appear to be out in front. We will watch to see if Matthews gets back to Clemson, as they were at one point thought to be a serious contender for him in the winter.
Team
As we mentioned, it’s all about academics right now. There are continued workouts, throwing sessions and film study but it’s all about school and finishing strong in the classroom.
Final exams started on Thursday and run through Wednesday of next week (May 17). Tennessee is one of the later schools to get out for the spring semester because they start later in January thanks to the creation of the winter mini-term session. So depending on their finals schedule players will get somewhere between 10-14 days off between the spring semester and returning to town to start the summer workout program.
When the team returns on the night of Memorial Day for a team meeting, they will welcome the final two members of the 2023 class in defensive end Chandavian Bradley and Tyree Weathersby. From a physical standpoint, at 260 pounds, Weathersby is much further along than the 210 pound Bradley. It will be interesting to see what the initial feedback is with both players after they arrive.
As we noted last week, the waiting game continues for a ruling from the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions. It technically could come any day but no one seems to be expecting anything until sometime in early June.
On the facilities side of things many have asked what ‘brick cladding’ around in-bowl vomitories means. Well here’s a picture of where the brick is going in the lower bowl. It will definitely change the look of the stadium in the bowl.
Meanwhile structural work continues on the south end of the stadium. There is lots of stuff being done there that will not be noticeable to the fan base and work is on-going with the wi-fi project as well.
Construction for an addition to the Anderson Training Center is a project that’s seemingly moved pretty slow to this point because there was so much ground prep work that was needed. They are starting to pour concrete pillars and that project is starting to move along.
Hoops
With the official addition of Northern Colorado wing Dalton Knecht, who signed on Thursday, Tennessee’s roster is set for the 2023-24 season. USC Upstate combo guard Jordan Gainey signed on Tuesday and Harvard forward Chris Ledlum signed on Wednesday.
All three players will be in Knoxville in the coming days. Knecht is expected in town on Friday and Ledlum should be here Monday. He’ll leave next weekend to walk in Harvard’s graduation ceremony and then return to town after.
As for Julian Phillips, we’re told he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal as a secondary option moving forward. The plan for Phillips remains to play professional basketball next season — he received an invite to the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago next week — and entering his name in the portal before it closed was more of a formality, keeping that avenue open should the NBA Draft process not go the way Phillips wants.
Josiah-Jordan James and Olivier Nkamhoua did not receive NBA Draft Combine invites but will be in Chicago this weekend for the NBA’s G League Elite Camp at Wintrust Arena. Michigan is still pursuing Nkamhoua, who entered his name in the portal on March 30, but we continue to hear his goal is also to start his professional career next season, wherever that may end up being.
Tennessee’s players are mostly off campus for the next couple weeks — Santiago Vescovi is back home in Uruguay — decompressing before coming back to start the summer workout schedule the first week of June.
Zakai Zeigler remains on campus and from everything we’ve heard, it’s all good news with how his ACL rehab is progressing. Everything is on schedule and happening as it should a little a little less than two months out of surgery.
BASEBALL
It goes without saying this is a big-time weekend for Tennessee with Kentucky coming to town. The SEC Tournament is just a little over a week away and the Vols end the regular season with a tough road trip at South Carolina. Needless to say, the road woes have remained consistent all season long. Thus, winning your final home series is of great importance when looking towards earning a postseason spot. (Vols projected as a 2-seed in the latest D1 Baseball projections)
Kentucky is a solid club and is coming off a sweep of top-five South Carolina at home. It’s one of the better-hitting ball clubs in the league, though the slugging numbers are down. The Wildcats will attempt to steal like crazy (four players with double-digit steals on the season) and they’ll showcase better pitching than Tennessee has seen the past few weeks.
After starting four different pitchers each of the past five series-openers, Kentucky is rolling with former midweek starter RHP Travis Smith (4-1, 3.62 ERA) on Friday who tossed a gem against South Carolina last week. RHP Zack Lee (4-2, 3.54 ERA) and LHP Tyler Bosma (4-3, 5.04 ERA) will get the remaining two nods.
Tony Vitello has said twice on the record that Chase Burns will be good to go this weekend. That’s good because Tennessee will need him. OF Kavares Tears also made his return to the lineup on Tuesday after missing nine-straight games. He was available to pinch-hit if needed last weekend, but they opted to give him more time.
I mentioned the struggles of Blake Burke lately at the dish. Silver lining, at least the Vols are playing at home this weekend. At Lindsey Nelson Stadium this year, Burke is hitting .352 with 43 hits, 34 runs scored, 13 home runs and 26 RBI. On the road, the first baseman is batting .157 with eight hits, five runs scored, one homer and three RBI. Granted, they have played far more at home than on the road.
In Southeastern Conference play, Burke is hitting .289 with 13 hits, 16 runs scored, four homers and eight RBI at the friendly confines. On the road in conference play, he’s batting .167 with eight hits, one home run and three RBI.
Blake Burke needs to have a good weekend and Tennessee needs to help itself so they don’t have to sweat out the final road trip of the season.
As for Lindsey-Nelson Stadium and those renovations, nothing has formally been said about when things are starting or what they are going with first. But we are hearing that the likely first order of business is extending the right field line which would also create a new entrance for the players and enhance some recruiting things.
Obviously, when you are talking about closing parts of two roads there’s a lot to work to do with moving piping and all kinds of things that are under the surface.
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