War Room: Recruiting nuggets, team notes, hoops and baseball
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 summer off-season program is officially underway as the Vols returned to campus Sunday/Monday to begin work and get ready to return to the classroom.
The reality is that the work truly never stops and guys ran, lifted and trained during their two week break from campus. Some stayed in Knoxville and worked or rehabbed.
A couple of guys have made good use of being an early enrollee in terms of physical development. Caleb Herring is 235-240 at this point. That’s basically 30 pounds of weight gained since arriving for bowl practice. Nathan Robinson, who is cleared following wrist surgery back in the winter which forced him to miss spring ball, is right at 280 pounds. Daevin Hobbs is continuing his rehab from shoulder surgery and should be pretty good come August. They will be cautious with him early, but he should get contact work.
Chandavian Bradley arrived heavier than 210 pounds as he has put on some bulk. Also, people have been impressed with the shape that Ayden Bussell arrived to campus in. He’s clearly put in some good work this spring in preparation for being here.
While some guys are putting on weight, others are peeling it off. Larry Johnson is down 25-30 pounds since his arrival in Knoxville back in December.
This continues to look more and more like a roster with SEC bodies on it compared to where it was a few years ago. The Vols have recruited better obviously, and the consistency in the strength and conditioning program can’t be overstated.
At the SEC spring meetings, Heupel noted to the media that last year was last year. It has created momentum in the program, but this is an important summer for this team. And that starts with Joe Milton, who continues to garner plenty of praise and hype. His head coach likes how he has approached things over the last six months.
“He’s had a great off-season,” Heupel said. “Everybody in our program and in the locker room believed he would play in a great way when he got his next opportunity. He has continued to have great urgency in his preparation and has continued to grow as a leader. He was a leader last year too. I’m really excited about what he’s done. He had a great spring. He has continued to refine himself as a quarterback with his fundamentals. Really impressed with what he did as far as pocket movement in the spring. He was really accurate with the football. He has to have a great summer. I expect him to do that and go help us win some football games.
“He’s just continued to grow in who he is. He’s really comfortable in who he is, what he’s about and his approach every day. His consistency. Emotionally being so consistent. I think that has helped him in a positive way inside our building. That can be leadership, how he works out every day and how he shows up and competes every day.”
But Heupel has quickly noted it’s not all about Milton as there are plenty of questions to answer before this fall.
Of course spring meetings come to a close in Destin today and the question is, will there or will there not be an answer to conference scheduling?
Hats off to Greg Sankey who rope-a-doped it all week. On Monday/Tuesday if you read Sankey’s quotes it seemed like it was all about nine games. Money wasn’t the driver of things and the league has always been about looking forward.
Then later in the week when asked his response to what the criticism might be if they don’t go to mine, Sankey made his case for his conference.
“I’m pretty sure the last game of the season was 65-7. If the indictment is that we don’t play the highest level of football, then someone isn’t watching the games.”
So it is indeed an eight game schedule for 2024. We will learn in a couple of weeks who the opponents will be. The question is does it stay at eight games or does it end of going to nine sometime quickly after the 2024 season.
Again, Sankey with the ‘bob and weave’ left things up for speculation for the future and make it clear that the eight game schedule in 2024 is a one off.
“We have been engaged in planning for the entry of Oklahoma and Texas into the SEC since the summer of 2021, but the change of the membership date from 2025 to 2024 creates scheduling complexities that can better be managed with a one-year schedule,” Sankey said in a statement.
“Creating a one-year schedule will provide a longer on-ramp to manage football scheduling around existing non-conference commitments of our members. It will also provide additional time to understand the impact of an expanded College Football Playoff and engage with our media partners as we determine the appropriate long-term plan for SEC football scheduling.”
Some of you have asked why the Austin-Peay game kickoff in week two wasn’t set. We are told there’s some flexibility there because that’s a streaming game, so look for that announcement later this summer.
Recruiting
Tennessee will not host any official visitors this weekend and will gear up for a three week run starting next week as the number of visitors will increase each week and end with a massive weekend June 23-25.
Running back Peyton Lewis made it official last weekend and soon after he publicly pulled the trigger, multiple running backs like Braylen Russell and Nate Frazier reached out to Tennessee. Everyone knows Tennessee is taking two but now the number of open spots has been cut in half.
Tennessee had a strong showing last weekend for the ‘865 Live’ weekend. In our estimation they left a strong impression on several prospects.
Baylor wide receiver Amari Jefferson came to town hoping to build on his last visit and that definitely happened. He will enter his official visits this month hoping to find his next destination with Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee in basically a dead heat. We still think Tennessee has home field advantage heading into the visits.
Elsewhere at wide receiver, Tennessee is in excellent shape with Mike Matthews and Ryan Wingo. Both really enjoy Kelsey Pope with Matthews to come off the board I likely in July. Wingo will go much longer as he won’t take his official to Tennessee until this fall.
Tennessee will look to take four wideouts but with JJ Harrell flirting with other schools, you have to approach things like Tennessee is starting at ground zero for wideout in the 2024 class. They will certainly try to hold onto him but that is no lock with him taking all Tennessee references off his Twitter.
Kam Mikell had a great time last weekend and we believe Tennessee really stands out to him because the Vols want him at receiver. Georgia is the biggest competition but the home state Bulldogs want him at defensive back. Some around him want him in Athens but we believe he wants to play offense so it will be interesting to see how things play out.
Sacramento athlete Kingston Lopa had a great time last weekend and would be an option at receiver. He met with both sides last weekend and loved his visit. The Vols made a strong impression on the Polynesian playmaker. Washington and Oregon are working him hard so it will be interesting to see how things play out over the next month. He will visit officially next weekend.
Speaking of athletes, Boo Carter continues to bond with people in the class. One interesting note this week is that some are pushing him to want to play offense. We still believe the Vols are the team to beat but the Vols want him on defense so if the offense notion becomes a thing then it could get interesting.
Tight ends Amir Jackson and Roger Saleapaga look to be the early front runners to join Jonathan Echols in this class. That’s who Alec Abeln will focus on. Jackson had a great time last weekend and will officially visit this fall. Saleapaga will be in town next weekend unofficially.
Speaking of Echols, he will be at Florida this weekend and while he says all the right things, it’s worth watching to see what he says coming out of this visit.
Offensive lineman Max Anderson comes to town next weekend and the Vols continues to be in good position. Ohio offensive lineman William Satterwhite will be at Clemson this weekend and while Tennessee was trending here a few weeks back, Clemson looks to build on their momentum this weekend. The Tigers always try to front load their visits and get kids to commit so this one we will be watching.
Five-star Brandon Baker is still a long shot in our opinion but we believe he will officially visit the last weekend before the dead period.
Finally along the offensive line, Ronan O’Connell will be at Clemson this weekend but Tennessee continues to be in a good spot in this one.
Defensively, Kameryn Fountain had a blast last weekend and we expect him to come to a decision after Tennessee starts fall camp. He loves Rodney Garner and while he has several visits this month, we believe the Vols are trending.
Kamarion Franklin is still trending for the Vols based off people we have spoken to but his recruitment still has a twist or turn in remaining our opinion. He visits in two weeks.
Williams Nwaneri will visit officially in a couple of weeks and this still feels like Oklahoma and the Vols with teams like UGA and Texas A&M pushing to be a factor.
Sammy Brown had a great time last weekend and the Vols did about as well as you can do on an official visit. With that said, sometimes your best just isn’t good enough and we think UGA is still the team to beat. We won’t totally dismiss the Vols but it just feels like they come up short with Brown.
Edwin Spillman starts his officials this weekend at FSU. We still believe the Vols are positioned to land him but he wants this process to be his own and not just an assumption because Nathan is on campus. We firmly understand that which is why he is taking his time and visits.
Tylen Singleton was unable to make it in last weekend. Tennessee still has plenty of good vibes around it but this could boil down to how hard LSU pushes the Louisiana native. Brian Kelly is nationally recruiting so he isn’t just staying home at every spot.
Jordan Burns and Chris Cole are also a factor at linebacker.
Chase Tyler is someone worth watching this month as the Georgia athlete continues to vibe well with Tennessee. Tyler is also one that has some offensive aspirations so that is worth noting as well.
Florida athlete Cai Bates is going to officially visit in June as well. LSU will also host him. The instate schools are also poking around him.
Hoops
Tennessee certainly got some big news this week with Josiah-Jordan James announcing that he was coming back for one more year. This had seemed like a dead issue for more than a month now after Tennessee took three transfers and Santiago Vescovi announced his return, putting the Vols at the 13 scholarship limit.
James’ opted to return for a fifth season despite the fact that he’s going to be doing so as a walk-on. Obviously, NIL can help smooth things over on that front and without that recent change in NCAA rules it’s doubtful that James would have made the same decision.
Rick Barnes had always left the door open for James to return but the head coach had also been extremely transparent with all parties that he and his staff had to build their roster for next year. Quick decisions from James and Vescovi would have been appreciated, but Barnes & Co. were always pointed towards next year and everyone involved understood that there was a timetable involved.
When James never made any announcement everyone just assumed he was moving on. That changed—from what we’ve been told—when James failed to get any assurances from an NBA team that they would take him in the second round.
James had individual workouts with Portland, Dallas and Milwaukee.
Allegedly Dallas in particularly expressed serious interest in signing James to a ‘two-way’ contract, but there weren’t enough assurances for James to feel confident about staying in the draft.
As a result Tennessee now has what has to be one of the most experienced backcourts in all of college basketball with two returning four year starters in Vescovi and James along with junior point guard Zakai Zeigler when he returns from his knee injury.
It also means that outside of the point guard spot (which is definitely not crowded) the Vols now have a lot of bodies on the perimeter at the wing spots. With James back in the fold Barnes has a ton of options with his line-up, and as he has done frequently in the past can also play small with James at the four.
Things remain slow on the recruiting front, but Tennessee hadn’t planned it that way. Recent NCAA legislation has changed how schools and prospects can use official visits.
Prospects can still take visits during their junior year of high school, but the new rule prevents them from going back and taking an official visit as a senior to a school that you have previously visited.
Tennessee did have visits set up with North Carolina guard Austin Swartz and Alabama wing Chase McCarty for June, but understandably the staff has chosen to hold off on those visits until the fall.
The one obvious negative for Tennessee is that top-50 point guard prospect Ahmad Nowell has already made an official visit to Knoxville. In a move that has obviously upset plenty of coaches, those prospects who had already made official visits as juniors were not ‘grandfathered in’ with the new legislation. Therefore, if a rising senior prospect already officially visited a school as a junior they can’t make a return visit officially to that school.
As for the current team they will start to assemble over the next week. The three transfers have been on campus for a couple of weeks now. The incoming freshmen class will arrive this weekend and the returning upperclassmen will start to trickle in next week and the summer strength and conditioning program will get into full swing.
Baseball
Tennessee begins postseason play as the No. 2-seed in the Clemson Regional Friday night against No. 3-seed Charlotte at 6 o’clock eastern time, televised on ESPNU. As expected, Andrew Lindsey will get the nod against his former team and he’ll be countered by lefty Collin Kramer – who has been the Sunday starter of late for the 49ers. The Vols have won each of Lindsey’s past five starts.
If Tennessee wins, it will play the winner of Clemson/Lipscomb on Saturday at 6 pm eastern time. If they lose, the Vols will play in an elimination game on Saturday at noon. Regional play is double elimination. If a team wins the first two ballgames, they have a chance to end the regional on Sunday. A team can also come out of the loser’s bracket with one loss to win it on Monday.
The Clemson Regional is paired with the Auburn Regional – consisting of (1) Auburn, (2) Southern Miss, (3) Samford and (4) Penn. If Tennessee were to win the Clemson Regional and either Samford or Penn wins the Auburn regional – Knoxville would host a Super Regional. If the Vols and Southern Miss both win their respective regionals, the committee would decide on which program hosts the Super Regional as they are both 2-seeds.
The Vols are just 5-14 in games away from Lindsey Nelson Stadium this season, but Clemson’s ballpark is small and should feel more at home for Tennessee. On paper, there’s no reason to not feel good about Tony Vitello’s club this weekend. The Vols easily have the best pitching of their regional, but it always comes down to hitting away from home. If Tennessee is silenced for one hit like it was in Hoover, this could be a downer of a weekend.
Charlotte is throwing a lefty against Tennessee. No surprise there as the Vols have struggled at times this year with lefties who have movement. Depending on the route it goes for game one, Clemson has two lefties (Caden Grice and Ethan Darden) who could start in a potential Saturday contest. If Tennessee were to face Lipscomb, Logan Van Treeck and Noah Thompson are southpaw options.
Despite their struggles at times against left-handed pitching, Tennessee is averaging .267 at the plate against southpaws on the year. So, it could be a lot worse. Christian Moore and Jared Dickey are both hitting over .300 against lefties while (surprisingly) Blake Burke is just a shade under the .300 mark. All this is to say, the Vols can hit left-handed pitching – they just can’t no-show offensively like they have at times this season.
The baseball transfer portal opened on Tuesday of this week and the Vols quickly lost a trio of pitchers. Most notably, Jacob Bimbi entered the portal. He came to Tennessee after a really solid JUCO stint but did not make an appearance in an SEC game this season. The other two departures were Turner Swistak (medical redshirt this year) and Shawn Scott (hasn’t appeared in a game since 2021).
The portal window will be open for 45 days and close on July 13. As with most programs in most sports nowadays, there’s an expectation that Tennessee will lose a couple of more to the portal when the season comes to a close. Tony Vitello and Frank Anderson will also be active to enhance the roster with additions from the portal as well.
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