War Room: Recruiting nuggets, portal vibes, summer work set to start
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.
The Tennessee football team is in the weight room working on mass and strength numbers as they close out the semester in the the classroom.
The rehab vibes on Bru McCoy continue to be good and the vibe is also good on Cam Seldon’s recovery process. That news as well as what’s been realistic in the portal has the Vols doing nothing at the point at running back.
With the departure of Cristian Conyer the question is would Tennessee kick the tires on a defensive back. James Madison transfer D’Angelo Ponds, who has multiple years of eligibility left, said on social media that Tennessee had been in contact with him. We don’t expect anything to develop there with Ponds and the Vols
As Josh Heupel stated at the Big Orange Caravan in Nashville on Tuesday night, he likes this team and he likes the roster. He’s also mentioned the culture of the program more than once and the challenges that you could have to deal with in position rooms when bringing in someone in the spring portal period so we will see if anything happens there.
Tennessee AD Danny White never offered a lot of strong opinions in group media settings regarding the future of SEC scheduling.
“I think we were getting close to the point where we need to make some decisions. To be perfectly honest with you, we got so many other bigger issues. I hadn’t really thought about that one most recently. I know our fans would love to know. I’m excited in any iteration of this new football conference. And adding two (schools) is one thing, and they’re two big-time brands. But just playing everyone more frequently by getting rid of the divisions and having much more diversity in the schedule, whether it’s eight or nine, we will get home and away in a four-year period with everybody in the league. From a fan experience, student-athlete experience. I think it’s going to be awesome. And I can’t wait.”
White was pretty clear about his frustrations with the lack of fixes/answers in the NIL world. White is not anti-NIL at all and has been more supportive than ever, but he’s always talked about the need for guardrails and fixes in the direction of things to preserve college sports. It was pretty clear that he wants more from the leadership of college athletics.
It’s going to be pretty fascinating over the next 6-7 months in regards to the continued revenue sharing talk. Where are things with student-athletes becoming employees? Could there be talk of a collective bargaining agreement for college players? With the House vs. NCAA case set to start in January and the NCAA looking for a settlement it might be the catalyst needed to get serious about some solutions instead of going to Capitol Hill for discussions that are going to yield no results.
Buckle up it will be interesting for sure.
There was certainly some surprise with Jaylen Wright falling to day three of the NFL draft. It’s unclear why, but Wright has landed in a good spot with a creative offense in Miami that could get him the ball in space.
Kamal Hadden getting drafted late wasn’t a real surprise. If Hadden had been healthy enough to workout during the weeks/months leading up to the draft, he could have certainly helped his stock.
Of course, James Pearce is on all the early mock drafts. Pearce, who really came out of nowhere last year, has to deal with all of that hype this off-season. Bryson Eason doesn’t have any of that hype but internally he continues to be a guy that people are talking about with just how he’s improved with his fundamentals and who how much confidence he seems to have found in just the last few months.
The buzz around Tennessee football is very clear. Season tickets are sold out again and there is once again a waiting list for Neyland Stadium. That’s obviously a credit to the style of play and product that Heupel has put on the field and having quarterback that people are buzzing about doesn’t hurt either.
Construction is continuing on campus on both the University and the athletic side of things. Ground has been broken next to McClung Museum where that parking lot at the corner of Lake Loudon and Volunteer is gone. That will house a new dorm.
In just over a month, Phase Two of the renovations of Lindsey Nelson Stadium will start and of course work continues on the South end of Neyland Stadium where progress continues to be made on the new Gate 4 entrance. Also, concrete is getting ready to be poured on the expansion of the concourse.
On the southwest corner the finishing work with limestone is being done before the steel “x”’s go in as that look will match the north west end of the stadium. Here are a few updated snapshots along with the renderings of what it will ultimately look like.
Recruiting
Tennessee will host one official visitor this weekend as offensive guard Antoni Ogumoro will be in town to check out Glen Elarbee and the Vols. Tennessee obviously is in good standing with several tackles, but they are also view the guards as very important with the room set to lose several interior guys after this coming season.
In making several calls this week, it feels like the 865Live event at the end of the month is set up to be a big one. One name that could be in town for that event and also back for an official visit in June is current Clemson commit Isaiah Campbell. We know Clemson doesn’t let their commits take visits but we believe he plans on taking trips to Tennessee, UNC and Florida State which could mean he is close to opening things back up.
Also expected in that weekend is Bryce Donovan Jenkins as Tennessee continues to be the school that has the most momentum with him. Coach ‘Chop’ has been instrumental with both Jenkins and Campbell as the Vols saw both this week with Rodney Garner out on the road.
Tennessee continues to remain in the thick of the race for Travis Smith Jr. Smith continues to listen to all suitors, and he will officially visit Auburn and Alabama in June, but at this stage, nothing has changed for us as we believe this remains a Tennessee-Georgia battle heading into a busy summer for the coveted pass-catcher. The Vols have been at the top of this one at different times over the past six months, as have the Bulldogs, and there will likely be more momentum swings heading to the finish line.
Kelsey Pope was in Vegas to see Derek Meadows this week and as of now, it looks like he will be in town for an official visit at the end of May. The Vols will also get official visits from Jaime Ffrench and Caleb Cunningham in June. We won’t be surprised to see Ffrench in town for 865Live at the end of the month.
Other wide receivers that Tennessee is recruiting would be DJ Miller, Jerome Myles, and Cam Sparks.
Tennessee made a nice impression on Isaiah Gibson last weekend to try and work their way into his recruitment more. The fact the Vols were able to get him to campus was a plus heading into the summer. He is listed as an EDGE, but we believe Tennessee likely envisions him in a more of a strong side defensive end role.
He has been committed to USC, but most people we talk to believe the four-star standout ends up back in the Southeast when it’s all said and done. The Vols are working to get him back to town in the summer for an official visit. As it stands, Gibson plans to return in the fall.
Several of you have asked about the edge prospects in this class and Tennessee should get official visits from a few next month. Christian Gass, Jayden Woods, Lavar Arrington Jr. and Cortez Harris are planning a visit to Rocky Top soon.
Interior offensive lineman Jacobe Ward will visit Tennessee in June on an official visit during the second weekend. The Vols have continued to have positive dialogue with him since he visited earlier in the Spring. Auburn is the other team to watch in this one heading into official visits, but the Vols have positioned themselves nicely in the recruitment of the South Georgia standout.
Tennessee continues to pace the way and make a very strong impression on Shaedy Hayward, but the four-star maintains a decision timeline of June. South Carolina and Florida State are two schools that continue to prioritize him, and he plans to visit Alabama in June as well.
Three Tennessee coaches will remain on the road on Friday.
William Inge is expected to check in on multiple schools and prospects across various classes in the mid-state during his travels.
Willie Martinez will finish out his week in Florida checking on multiple players across various classes, including 2026 four-star cornerback Jaelen Waters and visiting the school of four-star safety Keon Young.
De’Rail Sims will work in Pennsylvania and check on several of the top schools in the state that have prospects across various classes.
Hoops
The portal may have closed on Wednesday but there’s still some lingering drama when it comes to Tennessee’s remaining recruiting efforts.
The name in the forefront of every Tennessee fan’s mind at the moment is North Florida grad transfer Chaz Lanier.
It would be fair to call Lanier the hottest commodity left on the transfer market. A big shooting guard (6-foot-4, 200 pounds), Lanier is a proven scorer who averaged 19.7 ppg last season while making 44% from three-point range.
To say that Lanier, who attended high school at Ensworth in Nashville, is a priority target for Tennessee at this point would be an understatement.
Tennessee has done some remarkable work in the transfer market to this point. The Vols have hosted four transfers on official visits and have nailed down three commitments/signees from those four visits.
That’s big time work from this coaching staff.
Now adding Lanier to that group would give Tennessee one of the biggest transfer hauls in the nation.
So what are the chances? Pretty good it would seem.
However, Lanier is clearly not in any rush. He has declared for the NBA draft and has until May 29 to pull his name out.
So theoretically, this suspense could drag on for four more weeks if Lanier wants it to. Tennessee has the roster space (and the need) to wait as long as necessary.
Tennessee has definitely pushed all its chips to the middle of the table and are all in on this one.
Based on what we’re hearing, assuming Lanier pulls out of the draft, we like Tennessee’s chances a great deal as of this writing.
We would just caution, that in this day and age with NIL, you can’t assume anything until a player has signed.
You never know when some program may be desperate enough to come in with a huge NIL offer if they think one guy can make a huge difference, and a lot of people seem to think that Lanier is that kind of guy.
Elsewhere look for Tennessee to bring in 2024 point guard Ben Hammond early next week for an official visit.
We’ve mentioned previously that the staff ideally would like to bring in someone to potentially provide some relief for Zakai Zeigler, but that’s easier said than done.
Coming in knowing that the best case scenario is that you’re going to be backing up a returning All-SEC point guard isn’t a recruiting pitch that would appeal to a lot of prospects.
Hammond seems like someone willing to bet on himself though, much like Zeigler was four years ago. He’s got a bunch of mid-major offers, but none from power conference schools.
This will be one to keep an eye on next week.
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