War Room: Recruiting visits, team notes, hoops and baseball prepare for Super Regional

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.

Classes started back on campus this week and week two of the summer off-season program is wrapping up. 

The arrival of summer school has meant the arrival of the rest of the 2023 class including Emmanuel Okoye who is obviously going through a major adjustment in moving to Knoxville. 

We mentioned Ayden Bussell last week. He had a great spring prior to his arrival. He’s around 310-315 pounds and has really worked on his body fat. No one is expecting him to come in and make an impact but he has arrived in great shape and has clearly put in plenty of effort to arrive in the best shape possible. 

Fellow newcomer Trevor Duncan looks good as well. Duncan is weight between 270-280 pounds. 

It’s a big summer for Elijah Simmons. Simmons made noise in the spring and everyone wonders if he will be consistent this summer. Simmons is still working on weight management (as will always be the case), but seems to have more engagement with that than ever before. 

The guy on the defensive line who looks better than ever is Bryson Eason. The Memphis native is at 290 pounds and doesn’t look like it. There is obviously a huge opportunity for Eason on the defensive interior this fall. Eason finished the 2022 season playing his best ball. Eason had three tackles including a TFL at Vanderbilt. He had two tackles against Clemson and a quarterback hurry. Everyone in the program feels like Eason is as talented as any defensive lineman on the roster. It’s about hims putting things together consistently. 

Quietly Ramel Keyton is just being Ramel Keyton. The unheralded receiver remains one of the hardest working players on the team, always catching extra passes on the jugs machine and getting in extra film study. And working a lot with Joe Milton. Keyton and Milton have a really good chemistry going back to when Milton was the back up and Keyton was a second team receiver trying to get on the field. 

Again, it gets beat to death but the continuity of the program, especially in the strength program and the nutrition program, is a huge benefit to this team. There’s no learning anything new so the result is guys are hitting the ground running and many guys are in their second and third year of the program which helps with things like body fat and reshaping a guy over a period of time.

Another thing Heupel does a good job with in his program is in team building. At the end of spring practice, Tennessee as a team went to Dollywood. Earlier this week, they had an outing at Top Golf.

Next Wednesday in a made for TV event, the SEC will release opponents for the 2024 football season. We expect Tennessee will get Vanderbilt and Alabama, then the other six will be interesting to see. One of the things to keep in mind is since the league is doing away with divisions, the league brass does not want to make schedules old division match ups. Now they are going to keep the rivalry games but Tennessee will likely play more old western division teams in 2024 than they ever have. 

On the NCAA investigation front, there’s no news and frankly there’s no rumbling of any news. So the waiting game continues. It could come any day and it could be weeks from now. We will see. 

In regards to facilities, just because the home baseball season is over doesn’t mean that construction is underway at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. We would still say late August at the earliest. There’s some more red tape to get through and some design things to tweak now that construction manager has been hired. 

Inside Neyland Stadium, there’s no brick going up yet on the tunnels into the stadium, but there is work with wifi as some hardware is being installed as holes are being drilled throughout the stadium. 

Recruiting

Tennessee will host two official visitors this weekend in EDGE Kellen Lindstrom and offensive lineman Max Anderson. The former is already committed to the Vols, and the latter is one they would like to close the deal with. This trip will be about checking off more boxes for Anderson, as he could make a decision sometime later in the month or early next month.

Also expected in town for an unofficial visit is four-star tight end Roger Saleapaga. His bond is already strong with tight ends coach Alec Abeln and recruiting analyst Aaron Amaama. Saleapaga will have family along with him on this visit, and it will be important for Tennessee to show him a “family vibe” during the trip. The Vols have staying power in this one, in our opinion, as Oregon, Utah, and Auburn are all also in hot pursuit. 

Elsewhere at tight end, Tennessee commitment Jonathan Echols made his way to Florida last weekend for an official visit, and the Gators are in the picture some, but Tennessee still appears to be in good shape here ahead of his official visit later this month. Amir Jackson continues to have good conversations with Tennessee as well. Florida is in the mix heavily here, and Miami is working to be more of a player in this one. 

Mike Matthews is coming off an official visit to Clemson last weekend, and while the Tigers made moves with several top targets, we do not believe they are close to the top for the five-star. He will see Georgia this weekend, and the home-state Bulldogs likely need to make up some ground as it feels they are running third at best. Tennessee and USC still appear to be in prime position as June rolls on. 

Amari Jefferson will see Alabama this week to start his slate of official visits. This is an important visit, as there is some chatter that the Tide might be Tennessee’s biggest competition at this point in the game. Georgia is certainly in the mix as well, but the Bulldogs are not prioritizing Jefferson as much as they are some other targets currently.

Ronan O’Connell saw Clemson last weekend, and it doesn’t feel as if the Tigers did enough to make a move here. Wisconsin will get their chance this weekend, as Tennessee still sits in a good spot for the mid-state standout. He will visit the weekend of June 23rd.

JJ Harrell’s decision to de-commit earlier this week did not come as a major shock. At this point, one of the two in-state schools in Mississippi feels like the most likely destination for him. The Vols will continue to evaluate receiver options in this class as they would like to take four. Other names to note include Kam Mikell, Terrell Anderson, Bray Staley, and Dae’Vonn Hall. 

On the other hand, Kameryn Fountain’s decision to choose USC did come as a surprise. He had been trending to Tennessee for months and was set to go public with a commitment in August. In talking with folks, the family and the kid fell in love with the trip and hospitality and did not want to wait to commit. He is saying right now that he is not taking any more trips; however, we will be surprised if that holds up. There is reason to believe Tennessee will get another shot here later in the process. 

All eyes are on Boo Carter ahead of his June 17th commitment from New York City. There is plenty of Michigan chatter out there ahead of his official visit, but he was back on Tennessee’s campus on Thursday for a 7v7 camp. This one has been a two-team race for a while, so there is a possibility for another twist or two, but we would still lean toward Tennessee heading into the weekend. 

Tennessee had hoped to have Chase Tyler in this weekend, but his family had pre-existing plans, so he will not make it. He is one that Tennessee likes a lot, and the interest is mutual. He feels like he has already seen everything he needs to at Tennessee and is comfortable with the staff. The Vols are recruiting him as a corner, while others are recruiting him as a receiver. In talking with folks from the state of Georgia this week, there is a strong belief his ceiling is the highest at corner. He will most likely make a decision in July. 

Cai Bates will take his official visit later in the month, and he feels like Tennessee is making him a priority at cornerback. He has built a strong relationship with Josh Heupel and Willie Martinez. The in-state programs are trying to be a factor here, but Bates may have ideas of leaving the state, as he is heavily interested in Alabama, LSU and Tennessee right now. 

Georgia impressed Williams Nwaneri, as expected, and the Bulldogs are more of a factor now, but it still feels like they are behind Tennessee and Oklahoma in this one. He will be on campus in Norman this weekend before heading to Knoxville on the weekend of June 16th.

Braylen Russell continues to be a running back Tennessee is recruiting heavily. He was at South Carolina last weekend, but the Gamecocks are not viewed as a strong contender at this stage. He will see Baylor this weekend, then Arkansas the following. The Razorbacks were not originally slated to get an OV, but Russell chose to trip there instead of Purdue on the 16th. This one most likely comes down to Tennessee and the in-state program. The Vols get the final visit on June 23rd.

Tennessee would like to get Chris Cole in for a visit in June, and he is working to see if his schedule will allow it. The Vols continue to be  involved with Edwin Spillman, Tylen Singleton and Jordan Burns as they work through June officials. 

Last but certainly not least, George MacIntyre will be in town for camp on Sunday. He will also be back at the end of the month for another camp inside Neyland Stadium. Tennessee is really showing out for the BA product as the next couple of weeks will be big for the Vols to build some momentum here heading into the summer months.

Deuce Knight was impressive last weekend and clearly like the Vols. It will be interesting to see how things transpire on his timeline over the next little bit.

Hoops

Tennessee is gearing up for Southern Miss and Super Regional play down in Hattiesburg, Miss. The team made the flight down on Thursday afternoon and will have a practice at Pete Taylor Park on Friday. It’s the fifth time in program history the Vols are Super Regional bound and the third-straight year. The Vols have won both Super Regionals played on the road in program history (ECU 2001 and GT 2005).

It was obviously a disappointment on Tennessee’s end not to be hosting this weekend. We’ve talked about it all week and there’s several factors that could have swayed Southern Miss’ way. Sure, the NCAA baseball selection committee has strong ties to the Golden Eagles. The stadium itself is slightly larger, but has a bevy of standing room only spaces. That will be in full effect this weekend as you’ll see on TV.

But in the grand scheme of things, it feels as if Southern Miss was higher on the priority list to host than Tennessee. What I mean by that is this: there’s no official ranking past the top-16 overall seeds. But with the SEC already hosting plenty in regional play, Southern Miss was higher on the hosting ladder than Tennessee. Both submitted bids prior to postseason play and this could also explain the fact that Southern Miss was sent to Auburn (13th seed) and Tennessee to Clemson (4th seed). It is likely the Vols could have made more money hosting as tickets are believed to be more expensive here in Knoxville.

At the end of the day, we won’t have a true explanation and Tennessee didn’t receive a true explanation either. This isn’t like March Madness where there’s a Q&A type press conference to follow the Selection Show. I reached out to an NCAA media rep for further clarification and they sent me back the generic statement form the committee.

Southern Miss and Tennessee both met the minimum guidelines in their respective bid proposals submitted before the championship began. In situations where a super regional matchup is between equally seeded teams, the DI Baseball Committee reviews hosting proposals submitted by each school. The committee decision is based on site selection criteria, including factors such as quality and availability of the facility, revenue potential, and attendance potential.

Two other questions I asked that did get answered were about potential rain altering schedules and the home and away teams. There’s a threat of rain all weekend in Hattiesburg, and with the series slated to be played Saturday-Monday, I inquired on the possibility to play on Tuesday if needed. That is an option, if it is deemed the best possible solution by the decision makers. As far as who is home and who is away, since both Tennessee and Southern Miss are 2-seeds overall, a coin flip during the pre-tournament meeting on Friday afternoon will determine the setup. The winner gets to be home on Saturday, the loser on Sunday and if needed for Monday, a second coin flip will determine that. It really is some type of process.

We’ll know for sure when we show up to the park on Saturday, but I don’t anticipate Jake Fitzgibbons being on the active roster this weekend. You can make changes to your postseason active roster in between rounds, just not game-to-game. If that’s the case, expect fellow lefty Andrew Behnke to take his place or the Vols could carry one less pitcher and opt for another bat such as Jake Kendro or someone else.

There’s plenty of Southern Miss info in Saturday’s preview or on The Porch podcast coming out tomorrow afternoon, but here’s a few names to know. SP Tanner Hall (12-3, 2.12 ERA) is a stud and is a two-time Conference Pitcher of the Year and current Golden Spikes Semifinalist. Lefty Justin Storm (6-2, 2.61 ERA) is a talented and versatile option out of the bullpen who is also leading the team with eight saves. Shortstop Hunter Dickerson blasted six home runs in the Auburn Regional. Designated-hitter Slade Wilks leads the squad with 20 home runs and 58 RBI.

Two wins stand between Tennessee and a return trip to the College World Series. If Tennessee plays to the standard it did last weekend, there’s no reason to not believe the Vols will come out victorious this weekend.   

Hoops

Freshmen forwards JP Estrella and Cade Phillips, two of the three prep prospects Tennessee signed in the fall, arrived on campus over the weekend. Estrella showed up at 6-foot-11 and weighed in at 233 pounds. For some context, Estrella was listed at 210 pounds in the latest update to his On3 recruiting profile. So that extra 23 pounds was a pleasant surprise for the Tennessee staff. Estrella’s move to Brewster Academy certainly paid off, especially in terms of building his body. 

Still, with Jonas Aidoo, Tobe Awaka, Chris Ledlum and even Josiah-Jordan James and Dalton Knecht as options at forward, we don’t expect a ton of minutes for Estrella during his freshman season. And that is fine with Estrella, who is willing to wait his turn while continuing to develop his game during his first season with the Vols. Phillips seems like a likely redshirt candidate. 

With Estrella and Phillips joining Tennessee’s three transfers on campus — Jordan Gainey, Ledlum and Knecht — that leaves four-star wing Cam Carr as the only newcomer who has not yet arrived in Knoxville. He is expected to make it to campus this summer, though.

The early returns for Gainey, Ledlum and Knecht have been positive. Tennessee coaches have been impressed by Gainey’s toughness and shot-making ability. Knecht’s overall skillset and quickness with the ball has turned some heads early on. And the staff has liked Ledlum as a big body and downhill driver, which the Vols certainly need from a big man.

Offseason workouts will begin in earnest next week. 

As we noted last week Tennessee had planned a decently busy recruiting month with at least two official visitors and possibly four. However, recent NCAA rule changes that prevent prospects from officially visiting the same school twice—even in different academic years—prompted the staff to push those visits into the fall. 

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