War Room: It’s time for ball, recruiting notes, 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.

Talking season is officially over in a little more than 24 hours as the Vols take on Virginia in Nashville. And it’s safe to say everyone is ready to play and the coaching staff is ready to see where their team is at. 

Head coach Josh Heupel has had nothing but praise for his team’s leadership, their competitiveness everyday on the practice field and how they have gone about their business since the Orange Bowl.

“Training camp has been great. This group has been really mature and competitive. They have great comraderie and it is time to go hit somebody in a different color (uniform). There wasn’t a day during the course of training camp where I didn’t think they put out a great effort.” 

There’s plenty of ‘must see’ for Vol fans on Saturday aside from quarterback Joe Milton on offense. They Vols are going to rotate pretty heavily on the offensive line so that’s a story line to watch, and then at receiver the chatter about Dont’e Thornton and the expectations surrounding him haven’t slowed down at all. 

“Dont’e, you see him in person, he’s got all the attributes, traits that you’re looking for. Great length, has the ability to play outside, play in the slot, had great speed. His GPS numbers were as high as anybody’s in the transfer portal. A young man that since he’s gotten here has continued to refine himself fundamentally. Coach Pope’s done a great job with him. Expect him to be a major part of what we’re doing and having a big-time year,” Heupel said of Thornton. 

As for that offensive line, Ollie Lane will get the start at center and we expect Andrej Karic, the Texas transfer, to start at left guard. If Thornton starts at receiver, the Vols will likely start seven players they took out of the transfer portal last winter in Thornton, Karic, John Campbell, Charles Campbell, Keenan Pili, Omarr Norman-Lott and possibly Gabe Jeudy-Lally as they will be cautious with Kamal Hadden who’s been nicked up the last couple of weeks. 

“The group of transfer kids that we’ve brought in this year and I’m going to say this about the group that we brought in the year before, but in particular this year, these guys have been unbelievable teammates,” Heupel said. “Great work ethic, been no issues, they’ve bought in to the team-first mentality. They’ve bought into the offseason workouts and a lot of them have developed into really good leaders inside of our position groups as well. Really pleased with what our staff did in a short amount of time making sure we landed the right kind of guys.”

We won’t be surprised at all if Dominic Bailey gets the start at defensive end ahead of Tyler Baron. Both are obviously going to play a lot. Bailey has had a consistent fall camp and has been on the practice field everyday. Baron has missed time and that position with Tyre West in there is pretty competitive. All three of those guys can also slide inside some in different situations. The trio will be a part of Rodney Garner’s 12 man rotation. That rotation will be without Elijah Simmons this week. Heupel confirmed on Thursday that he will miss the opener after suffering a knee injury in the Vols second scrimmage. We expect him to miss significant time before his return.

In the secondary, the question of the day is how much does Tennessee rotate. Brandon Turnage is the second STAR behind Tamarion McDonald, who has gotten healthy. Turnage has one start under his belt at that position and that came when he was pressed into duty two years ago against South Carolina. Jeudy-Lally is the third corner on the roster and is the back up on either side. Again, he could be the starter opposite Doneiko Slaughter depending on where Hadden is health wise. 

At safety, Jaylen McCollough and Wesley Walker are the starters with Jourdan Thomas and Andre Turrentine as the first two safeties expected to rotate in. As for rotating as much as they have talked about this month, defensive coordinator Tim Banks said it’s a must and they have to do it. 

“I think it can be challenging,” Banks said. “As coaches we are creatures of habit and you get stubborn to a degree. But if we are recruiting the right guys. If we are developing the right guys we feel like it shouldn’t be much of a drop off from the 1’s to the 2’s. We are definitely fighting hard to stay with that mindset because the better we do it, the more guys we play it only helps us in the long term from a culture prospective and obviously the long road of the SEC. It’s inevitable that guys are going to get dinged here and there and you don’t want that to be a guys first opportunity.” 

One programming note, Chancellor Donde Plowman will make a guest appearance on the Paul Finnebaum show on Friday from Nashville. SEC Nation is in the Music City for the Vols and the Cavs. 

With the season opener on the road as a home game for the Vols, it give construction crews in Neyland Stadium a few extra days to work and to clean up for the opener. The focus remains on the wi-fi project to get as much done as possible. It will be hard to get a ton done week-to-week once the season starts. They will use the open date as a big work week. They will have 10 days or so there to be able to leave equipment set up and to work. There are also the two weeks in late October where the Vols are on the road for back to back games playing at Alabama and at Kentucky. That is another big stretch where they will be able to leave scaffolding up and be able to work. 

As for other construction, we do think they are going to start something at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in September, but no equipment has rolled in yet and nothing has been marked off. 

Speaking of baseball, Tennessee will play Virginia Tech and Samford this fall, both at neutral sites.

Recruiting

Tennessee is a week away from linebacker Chris Cole coming to town for his official visit. He is at Southern Cal this weekend but we believe this is a Tennessee and Georgia battle in the end. Brian Jean Mary will be at his game next week and then they will both head back to Knoxville for Cole’s official visit. Cole has remained in steady contact with the staff and Tennessee has a real chance to be his choice when he makes his selection next Sunday.

Danny Okoye will be at Oklahoma this weekend and the Sooners are the Vols main competition for his commitment. Tennessee continues to have tremendous dialogue with him and he has told us he can’t wait to get back here at the end of the month.

Jordan Seaton is someone that Tennessee and Josh Heupel are making a strong push for. He is supposed to be in town for an official visit for the UTSA game later this month and Heupel is putting on the full court press. He will need to make it to Knoxville, and if he does then the Vols can become a real option in our opinion.

Kameryn Fountain is one  prospect Tennessee continues to work, and there are positive conversations taking place there. However, others are actively getting more involved here as well. South Carolina is one team we continue to hear about a lot. It’s seeming more and more likely he will take visits this fall. A return to Knoxville continues to feel likely. 

We don’t believe Georgia is completely out of the picture for Kam Mikell, but there is a belief the in-state Bulldogs have faded some. Texas A&M has worked their way into this one. Mikell will see Tennessee during the weekend of September 30th on an official visit. His relationship with Kelsey Pope and Josh Heupel is strong. He plans to see the Aggies and potentially a couple of others on OVs as well early in the season. 

The Vols are positioned to stay in this one for the duration, in our estimation. At one point, it felt like this one could go later into November or early December, but it seems like the timeline has accelerated somewhat.

Behind the scenes on the commitment front, Jake Merklinger has taken an active role in working to build and establish relationships with fellow commits while also trying to sway non-committed targets into the class. Merklinger has added positive weight since the spring.

Heupel will be at George MacIntyre’s game tomorrow night in Nashville. The Vols and Alabama are the top two options here with Tennessee still being in a tremendous spot. MacIntyre will be at the Vols game on Saturday in the stands as recruits aren’t allowed to attend unless they buy their own ticket.

Rodney Garner will be at the Ensworth game to see junior Ethan Utley. Utley’s mom and Garner have known each other since Garner was at Georgia.

Hoops

Tennessee seemed to have made a strong impression on Chase McCarty during his official visit last weekend based off of our conversation with him. However, it also doesn’t sound like the four-star wing is anywhere close to making a decision.

McCarty is one of those prospects who is taking full advantage of the NCAA rule change that allows prospects to take unlimited official visits. 

Tennessee got the first official visit of the fall, but McCarty still has a jammed packed travel schedule ahead of him. He’ll currently has trips scheduled to Houston, Missouri, Miami, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Xavier in the coming weeks. 

The Vols got a chance to make an early impression this fall, but now they’ll have to weather a whole bunch of other visits to stay in the thick of it.

McCarty told us that after he takes several more visits he’ll narrow his list and sign in November. Previously we had felt like Tennessee, Oklahoma and Kansas had kind of separated themselves from the field, but if McCarty sticks to his plans and takes all those visits this one could have numerous twists and turns. 

Elsewhere point guard target Bishop Boswell is at Wake Forest this weekend for what is a crucial official visit. He’s scheduled to be in Knoxville next weekend but first the Vols have to get through this weekend without him committing to the Demon Deacons. 

Wake Forest was one of the first programs to offer Boswell during his sophomore season whereas Tennessee just came in with an offer last month after the Peach Jam. Obviously, the Vols are working to make up some ground here, but if he gets through this weekend without pulling the trigger on a commitment then consider Tennessee as in this one. 

After Boswell’s visit the Vols have one more 2024 prospect (as of now) slated to be in town, that’s Las Vegas forward Pharaoh Compton. He’ll be in town on Sept. 24. Tennessee liked what they saw from him this spring and summer and have made him a priority. 

Preseason workouts are now underway in earnest. We don’t have a lot to add to some of the notes about individuals we’ve tossed out there in recent weeks in this space. One thing we would pass along is that we continue to hear a lot of positive buzz from people around the program about the work ethic and the attitude that this team displays collectively. Safe to say that unlike Deion Sanders, Rick Barnes thinks that culture matters.

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