War Room: Football official visits in high gear, team notes, hoops recruiting update
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.
It’s time to put the pedal to the floor for Josh Heupel and his staff. Tennessee will host 12 players officially this weekend in what the Vols hope is the first of two big weekends that mold the 2024 class into form. Those slated to be in town are:
While those official visits are taking place, Chattanooga athlete Boo Carter will come off the board with his commitment on Saturday at the 40/40 club in New York City. Michigan made a hard run at Carter but barring a last minute change, we expect the Vols to get good news tomorrow night. Carter has long been trending to Tennessee and has a phenomenal relationship with the staff, current players and several key prospects in the 2024 class.
It’s a big weekend for Rodney Garner. Not in terms of numbers but more in terms of quality. Two massive targets are in town as Williams Nwaneri and Kamarion Franklin make their way to Rocky Top.
Nwaneri continues to be a Tennessee and Oklahoma battle with Georgia trying to get in that lead group. Franklin and Tennessee have been jiving for a while but Auburn and Ole Miss continue to present a thorn for Tennessee. Will this weekend provide clarity for either? Maybe but most importantly this weekend needs to provide momentum for the Vols with both if they are going into lane one or possibly both,
Flip it to the offensive trenches and you have two big guys rolling into town. Daniel Calhoun is back yet again and while he likes the Vols there continues to be lots of smoke around him and his home state Bulldogs.
Illinois offensive tackle Marques Easley comes to town with the Vols trailing but we think the Tennessee plans to make a big swing here this weekend to see if they can flip the momentum and potentially swoop in and steal him from Georgia or Alabama. The chance to play early is definitely on the table in Knoxville.
Tennessee will host four offensive linemen next weekend with Gage Ginther, William Satterwhite, Ronan O’Connell and Bennett Warren scheduled to be in town.
Kelsey Pope welcomes South Carolina wideout Braylan Staley this weekend and there seems to be some good momentum for the Vols in this one for the Palmetto state four-star. Tennessee is going to take as many as four wideouts in this cycle so Staley would be a fabulous addition if they can build on their momentum.
Next week, the Vols will host Amari Jefferson and Mike Matthews. They are also supposed to host Carter next weekend as well, providing everything comes out Orange on Saturday.
Jefferson is now trending to the Tide after his official visit to Tuscaloosa last weekend but we still continue to believe the Vols have a strong shot to flip the momentum next weekend.
Tight end commitment Jonathan Echols comes to town this weekend. While Florida thinks they have some momentum, we just don’t see it the same way. His older brother, who Jonathan leans on, loves Knoxville and is a frequent visitor on his own to just be around things. Echols knows his best chance to flourish at tight end is with Heupel.
Speaking of tight end, Amir Jackson has bumped up his official visit to next weekend. He was supposed to visit in November for the Georgia game but that has changed and likely his timeline has been bumped up as well so Tennessee will need to present well next weekend, building on the momentum they generated with his last visit back in May.
Arkansas running back Braylen Russell will be in Knoxville next weekend but has decided to visit his home state Hogs this weekend. He was once committed to Arkansas but felt like they dropped the ball and he opened things back up. Heading into this weekend, we still feel like the Vols are the team to beat before his July 14th announcement.
At linebacker, Edwin Spillman comes to town with his high school teammate Kaleb Beasley this weekend. Spillman is enjoying the process but it’s just hard to see him ending up anywhere but Tennessee. The Vols are comfortable and offer the value of playing in-state with his brother.
Jordan Burns will be in town this weekend. It’s felt like Tennessee is the team to beat there so his timeline will be interesting with the Vols only taking two linebackers and Spillman likely to fill one of those spots.
Louisiana linebacker Tylen Singleton is coming in next weekend. LSU is always the worry with kids from ‘the boot’ but his area has seen kids leave the state. Doing some digging this week, we feel like Tennessee continues to be deep in this one heading into his official visit.
Speaking of LSU, they are a major contender for corner Cai Bates who is in this weekend. With Chase Tyler wanting to play wide receiver, Bates looks like the only prep corner the Vols are pushing for this summer. We are sure that will change this fall but unless Bates wants in, don’t look for another prep corner before fall at the earliest.
South Dakota offensive lineman Navarro Schunke was in town to camp on Wednesday. Schunke is a good athlete at 6-5, 294 pounds. He definitely needs polish in pass protection, but you could see his power in drill work at camp.
So the question is would Tennessee push and really pursue the 2024 prospect? The answer isn’t clear because Schunke isn’t clear on his future plans athletically.
Schunke is a four-time South Dakota state champion wrestler, winning the state title as an 8th grader. He’s ranked as one of the top heavy weight wrestlers in the nation.
“To be honest, I have no clue which one I will choose. I have been thinking about it a lot for a few months now. I’m waiting until after camp season and wrestling season this summer then I will try to figure it out,” he said.
Schunke has camped at Kansas State and Tennessee. He didn’t get to go to any other camps because of his wrestling obligations. With the football recruiting window wide open, to have all his options Schunke will need to decide on a sport sooner rather than later, but he certainly doesn’t seem close to a decision right now.
Team
Early morning workouts continue for the Vols and the newcomers (who arrived three weeks ago are getting fully acclimated and their bodies are adjusting. We mentioned last week about Ayden Bussell and his weight being around 320. Bussell is going through some weight loss as his body adjusts to workouts. While others like Trevor Duncan, who is trying to add weight, is experiencing his body his adjusting to the workout routine and regardless of calorie intake his weight is holding steady. It’s a normal thing for newcomers who are experiencing workouts at this level for the first time. JUCO addition Larry Johnson is tipping the scales at 340 after showing up at north of 360 back in January.
Those who arrived at mid-term have been adding the weight like Caleb Herring and others. Arion Carter for example is around 230. Speaking of linebackers, Keenan Pili drew praise from the coaching staff in the spring for his maturity and leadership in the linebacker room and with the defense. That leadership has only grown as he’s continued to get more acclimated. Pili has definitely earned the respect of his teammates and others as he has been put on the team’s leadership council.
Dont’e Thornton is another guy who has put on weight this spring as well. The same goes for Nico Iamaleava who is up north of 210.
In terms of the schedule announcement, Tennessee’s 2024 schedule is about what it would have been had Texas and Oklahoma not entered the league. After seeing everyone’s schedule, you can understand why coaches in the conference aren’t interested in adding another league game. With schedule being compiled in its current manner, with each team getting four opponents from the top eight and four from the bottom eight, no one has an easy go of it.
It’s going to be hard to get coaches on board with a nine game schedule as most believe the eight games are going to provide a strong enough strength of schedule for the playoffs, but some still believe it will go to nine games in the next 2-3 years. We will see.
On the facilities front, we know many keep asking about Lindsey Nelson Stadium and there are going to be things done to the stadium this fall/winter. We are expecting Tennessee to announce some details on the first phase of renovations in early July. Remember the Board of Trustees meeting is June 29-30 in Memphis.
The wifi project continues to move along inside Neyland Stadium and the south end zone is basically gutted as the off-season following the 2024 season will be a big one in terms of construction.
Baseball
Tennessee is back in Omaha for the second time in three years, competing in the College World Series for a chance at a national championship. Up first, a rematch with LSU and Paul Skenes – Saturday night at 7 o’clock ET on ESPN. It’s Tennessee sixth appearance in the CWS and the Vols are one of only four teams who have reached the milestone twice in the past three years – joining Stanford, Virginia and Texas.
Expect Andrew Lindsey to get the ball on Saturday against the Tigers. Nationally, they want the storyline of two top-10 picks in Skenes and Chase Dollander. Though that has the makings of being electric, Tony Vitello made it all but certain they were going to stay the course and not deviate from schedule.
“You know, we’ve just kind of gone with our routine. I think one time everyone went crazy because I got asked in our local media setup similar to this, and I said, well, we’re about to practice, and then we’ll finalize it. Anytime we’ve done that, I don’t like saying something and then — there’s no tomfoolery or anything like that, but we’ve rolled with what really has got us to this point with Andrew Lindsey first and Dollander second and Beam third.”
We don’t expect there to be any changes to the active roster from the Super Regional to now. The move last weekend was dropping Jake Fitzgibbons and adding Ryan Miller. That would mean the Vols have only two left-handed pitchers (Zander Sechrist and Kirby Connell) on the active roster for the World Series. Other notable players who have not been on the active roster this postseason include Kyle Booker, Logan Chambers, Jake Kendro & Reese Chapman.
A lot of you guys have been asking about the transfer portal and with the offseason already in full swing for everyone but the final eight teams in Omaha, things are moving quickly. Tony Vitello and his staff are actively talking to and evaluating players in the portal despite having their hands full and attention (of course) focused on Omaha. One name that was mentioned this week to me as someone to keep an eye on is former Xavier left-handed pitcher Justin Loer. The portal closes July 13.
Hoops
Tennessee is about to welcome its first official basketball visitor of the summer this weekend when Austin Swartz arrives on campus Sunday to begin his official visit.
The 6-foot-5, 180-pound Swartz, out of Concord, N.C., is arguably the biggest name on the board for the Vols in 2024. Tennessee’s staff views him as the best shooter in the class and has continued to make him a priority as he’s continued to climb in the recruiting rankings this spring.
Tennessee had originally intended to bring Swartz in earlier this month, but cancelled that visit. As we noted a couple of weeks ago an NCAA rule change this spring originally prevented prospects from making two official visits to the same school. At the time that seemed fairly punitive towards prospects who had begun to take official visits as juniors and college coaches were understandably upset about it.
In a rare move, the NCAA listened and made a ruling in favor of young athletes. Now there’s an addendum that current rising seniors can make two official visits to the same school as long as the first visit takes place before July 1.
As a result Tennessee moved quickly to get Swartz’ visit back on the books. On3 just recently moved Swartz up to the No. 28 overall prospect in the nation in the Class of 2024.
This ruling on the visits also affects Vol target, national top-50 prospect, Ahmad Nowell, who officially visited Tennessee this past season.
In other visit news, Tennessee is also scheduled to host Jermaine O’Neal Jr., the son of former NBA All-Star Jermaine O’Neal, for an official visit September 8-10 (the weekend of Tennessee Football’s home opener against Austin Peay).
O’Neal, a four-star small forward in the 2025 class, is listed at 6-foot-5, 175 pounds and attends Dynamic Prep in Dallas. He’s ranked No. 53 overall in the On3 ratings. He’s the No. 14 small forward in the class and ranked No. 8 overall in Texas.
Speaking of Nowell and Swartz, they’ll both have Rick Barnes watching them in action this weekend.
Friday begins the first open evaluation weekend of the summer. It’s the session where high school prospects play with their own high school teams as opposed o their summer travel teams, in centrally located events in their state.
Barnes and associate head coach Justin Gainey will be in Philadelphia this weekend to see Nowell in person. They’ll follow that up with a stop in Greensboro to watch Swartz, among other North Carolina prospects. Then Swartz will be in Knoxville on Sunday with his family.
This week also marked the first time that college coaches could reach out to speak with prospects in the Class of 2025.
Tennessee reached out to numerous ’25 prospects on Wednesday, this should be a considered a partial list:
(Name—Home town/State or High school—Position—On3 industry consensus rank)
Shane Cherry (Knoxville)
Deondre Lindsey (Knoxville—Power forward, No. 100)
A.J. (Sadiq) White (Charlotte—Wing—No. 30)
Eli Ellis (North Carolina—Point guard—No. 92)
Jordan Watford (South Carolina—wing)
Nyk Lewis ( Washington D.C.—Point guard—No. 35)
Maleek Thomas (Pittsburgh—Shooting guard—No. 4)
Amari Allen (IMG Academy—Wing—No. 49)
Aaron Rowe (Link Academy—Point Guard—No. 16)
Jasper Johnson (Link Academy—Combo Guard—No. 26)
Jordan Lowery (Denton, Tx.—Point guard—No. 72)
(O’Neal was another ’25 prospect who heard from Tennessee on Wednesday)
On campus, the new-look 2023-24 roster is mostly in town. Tennessee is still waiting on four-star freshman wing Cam Carr, who is expected to enroll and join summer workouts later this summer.
Redshirt freshman guard Freddie Dilione and sophomore forward Tobe Awaka are both in Colorado attempting to make the USA Basketball U19 national team. Both Dilione and Awaka have made it past two cuts and are now among 14 players vying for the 12 roster spots. The pool of players started at 35.
The team will play in the 2023 FIBA U19 Men’s Championship (June 24-July 2) in Hungary. It’s been an impressive week for both Dilione and Awaka, who have turned heads throughout the process.
It’s obviously only the first week of on-court workouts this summer. It’s obviously only mid-June. But Tennessee coaches have been very pleased with what they’ve seen from transfers Dalton Knecht, Chris Ledlum and Jordan Gainey.
We continue to hear the same feedback about the trio. Knecht has shown the ability to be a legitimate three-level scorer, Ledlum is one of the best drivers of the basketball on the team and Gainey is just a pure shooter. What that will look like come November, who knows. But the coaching staff has been impressed so far with the new guys.
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