War Room: Tennessee football, recruiting, hoops and baseball notes
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.
Tennessee’s four city caravan stop came to a close on Wednesday night with a final evening of glad-handing, autograph signing and making it clear that any donation anyone wants to give is gladly accepted.
The reality is that the cost of doing business in college sports is growing at an escalated rate. That rising cost coming from NIL, the House case settlement and the possibility of revenue sharing was a key topic of discussion on Wednesday when SEC AD’s gathered in Florida ahead of the spring meetings at the end of the month. The reality is that is not the key topic, it’s THE topic as the NCAA tries to ready a settlement in the House case that’s expected to go to trial in January.
The challenge remains what some kind of fix looks likely. Is it revenue sharing? Is it a collective bargaining agreement with student athletes becoming employees or non-employees? What is the Title IX factor in revenue sharing?
Fixing a problem that has been brewing for years is not a simple task. That has been Danny White’s point all along, and he has talked about the issue publicly when asked about revenue sharing and other fixes.
There is some thought that the latest round of meetings were beneficial as conference leaders heard the concerns about and the positives about some of the proposals that have been thrown around publicly the last couple of weeks.
Earlier this week LSU’s Brian Kelly made headlines when he said that basically he wasn’t buying players to come to LSU. White was asked about the reality of today’s world where for many student athletes money is indeed a factor in deciding on a school.
“Is it part of their decision? It has to be,” White said when asked specifically about Brian Kelly’s comments on not buying players. “It is for every other American in any other walk of life. That doesn’t make them greedy or selfish.
“That’s a piece of the puzzle. If we’re offering NIL packages and that’s part of the equation, any one of us in our professional life would never take a job without knowing the details of what that compensation package looks like.”
We will see what comes out of the next round of meetings at the end of the month, but no one sees a simple fix coming.
In the meantime, every school across the country needs more money. They always have and they always will as nothing about college athletics is ever getting cheaper.
Speaking of spending money, Tennessee is doing that big time in football and baseball with facilities projects. Renovations are underway that have nothing to do with the student athlete, but are all about the fan experience. Something White made clear on the caravan is, that as an AD you can never forget about the fan experience.
The Lindsey Nelson Stadium Phase Two will be get going as soon as the home season is over, while the Neyland Stadium south concourse project is at full tilt with some 200 workers a day working six days a week most weeks. Once the season starts this fall, the plan is for renovation work to be done four days week as it will not stop.
As for the current team, final exams end the middle of next week. Then it’s a two week break for those not taking a mini-term class and it’s back to the off-season grind for a little over 60 days before fall camp opens.
Josh Heupel gave a positive update on the progression of Bru McCoy, which wasn’t a surprise. McCoy was doing more to the side in his rehab during spring practice than most of us expected. Along with McCoy the rehab vibe with the two running backs, Peyton Lewis and Cam Seldon, seem to be good as well.
One position that has generated a little buzz of late is the newcomers on the offensive line. Now, none of them are going to be ready to make an impact this fall, but as offensive line Glen Elarbee noted, that group would be better coming out of spring practice after getting their nose bloodied a lot by a talented defensive line.
That group of young players has carried some confidence out of spring and has seen some strength gains in the weight room over the last month. Again, no one is ready to put any of them in the line up, but there’s confidence in their future in the program.
That group will grow by one at the end of the month with the arrival of tackle Bennett Warren and the million dollar question is what kind of shape does Warren arrive in? Indications are he has dropped some weight as he was clearly heavy in his all-star game.
Warren will be joined as a late arrival by defensive end Jordan Ross. There has been excitement with Ross as his game really took off in the fall. By the way, we also expect that the Emmanuel Okoye experiment on defense will continue this summer.
Tennessee will also welcome, tight end Cole Harrison, lineman Jeremaris Heard, linebacker Jordan Burns, junior college transfer Jamal Wallace and instate signee Carson Gentle.
One other note on baseball with head coach Tony Vitello. We understand there have already been conversations with Tennessee and Vitello’s representation regarding an extension on his contract that currently runs through 2026. Tennessee is also still trying to complete an extension for defensive coordinator Tim Banks.
Recruiting
We are just a couple weeks out from 865Live and the Vols are expecting a strong group that weekend. Bryce Donovan Jenkins has expressed that he will return that weekend as Tennessee remains the most constant for him in his recruitment.
Tennessee would love to have offensive lineman David Sanders back in that weekend and we believe that to be a possibility. Sanders announced that he will officially visit Nebraska this weekend which seemed to come out of left field. Everybody we speak with believes that Tennessee and Ohio State have separated themselves from the group with Clemson fading over the last little bit.
When Tennessee was out for spring evaluations they had a chance to check in on 2025 offensive tackle Andrew Babalola in Kansas and they were very impressed by what they saw. He will be in town the week of June 14th for his official visit.
Miami is making a strong run at coveted New Jersey offensive tackle Jaelyne Matthews but we don’t expect him to take anymore visits before his June 3rd commitment. Tennessee has done a fantastic job with him overall.
Double-digit schools have been through North Mecklenburg to check in on talented defensive lineman Charles House in the past couple of weeks. He has picked up recent offers from Alabama, Oregon and USC, but his timeline has not changed at this point.
He will see Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee on official visits and make a commitment on June 22nd. The Crimson Tide are swinging hard in this one, but the Vols and Bulldogs are still out in front. His visit with Tim Banks went well on Thursday, and Tennessee continues to show well in this recruitment heading into an important stretch.
Also of note, VFL Daryl Vereen was recently named as the new head coach at North Mecklenburg.
In a bit of a surprise Ohio running back Marquise Davis came off the board to Kentucky last week. Davis made an early decision ahead of official visits, and many believed Michigan was out in front there.
Tennessee continues to work on Shekai Mills-Knight, and De’Rail Sims will be by Baylor on Friday to check on him at practice as the bond continues to grow there.
Another name at running back Sims has kept close tabs on is Todd Robinson. It is hard to see the South Georgia standout anywhere other than Georgia with the Bulldogs currently pressing here, however, Tennessee is taking its shot and hopes to get him to town for 865Live and back again in June for his official visit. Robinson has expressed he wants to make both trips work, as he wants to take a deep look at Rocky Top before making a decision.
Peach State defensive lineman Christian Garrett received a visit from Rodney Garner on Wednesday, and the Vols remain in play here ahead of official visits. Garrett will decide on July 20th, and the more we check around on this one, the more we believe he is going into official visits with an open mind.
Tennessee has hosted Garrett several times, Georgia and Clemson have both been heavily involved, and some we have spoken with believe Georgia Tech is very much still in play here right now as well.
Tennessee continues to keep close tabs on fast-rising 2025 EDGE Christian Gass whose recruitment has blown up of late. Gass has had plenty of good things to say about the Vols since visiting earlier in the spring. He tells us this week, he has reworked his official visit schedule and will now see Tennessee the weekend of June 21st. He will also take officials to Georgia, Florida, Kentucky and USC. He wants to make a decision by the end of the summer.
Several Tennessee coaches will remain on the road on Friday.
Alec Abeln will work through multiple schools in Nashville, including making a stop to check on Carson Sneed. Joey Halzle will join him in checking on Sneed.
Halzle and Mike Ekeler are both also expected to visit Brentwood Academy on Friday morning.
De’Rail Sims is set to check in on several schools in the Chattanooga area on Friday before taking in Mills-Knight’s practice to end the day.
Kelsey Pope will see several in-state schools throughout the day as well.
Offensive line coach Glen Elarbee is going to be at Jefferson County evaluate offensive lineman Nic Moore. Tennessee has yet to go real hard on him, but that could change after Elarbee watches him on Friday.
Tennessee wants to add multiple interior offensive linemen with the next one to come off the board being Antoni Ogumoro who will announce on May 21st. He will be at Kansas State this weekend and Missouri next weekend before announcing on that Tuesday after the trip to Columbia.
Tennessee appears to have a ton of momentum here coming off the visit and the Vols seem to be trending with the Oklahoma lineman.
Hoops
The narrative around the Tennessee basketball program is pretty simple at the moment; what is going on with Chaz Lanier?
The North Florida transfer is pretty much the hottest commodity on the market right now and Tennessee is in a battle to land what could fairly be called the biggest prize left in the portal.
Lanier, who averaged 19.7 ppg while shooting 44% from three last season, attended Ensworth in Nashville, so there’s a pretty obvious tie for the Vols with a former in-state prospect.
Lanier is the prettiest girl left at the dance right now though, and seems in no hurry to make a decision.
He has made himself eligible for the NBA draft and is presently attending the NBA’s G-League combine in the hopes of improving his stock.
Some we have spoken to in the industry feel it’s unlikely that Lanier emerges from the pre-draft prospect as a likely draft pick. However, he has until May 29 to pull his name out. So that means we could all be in for a couple more weeks of suspense while we wait on a decision.
Tennessee is absolutely in the thick of this chase, we firmly believe that. But, as we said in this space last week, you just can’t take anything for granted in the current climate with NIL and the impact that has on recruiting, especially prized transfers, and Lanier is a prized transfer.
Kentucky is a program that has generated a lot of buzz with Lanier this week, and we believe the Wildcats are a factor. However, we don’t believe that a decision is close and we would expect more players to enters this chase than just the Vols and Wildcats.
As of now we don’t have a timetable for Lanier’s decision and we fully expect plenty of twists, turns and rumors before this one is done.
Elsewhere, Tennessee declined to bring in point guard Ben Hammond on an official visit earlier this week as had earlier been planned.
As of now we don’t have any other high school prospects on the radar for potential official visits. Now, we absolutely wouldn’t rule out something changing there, but as of this moment Lanier is the only concrete name on the board.
Tennessee would obviously like to add Lanier and then a piece or two for depth and/or practice purposes. But the Vols won’t ‘take someone just to take someone.’ Part of that is because of the concern over upsetting what is a prized culture.
Another reason is that the staff is high on the trio of rising sophomores on the roster; Cam Carr, JP Estrella and Cade Phillips. Those three are going to have a tremendous opportunity in front of them this season and there seems to be a quiet confidence around the program that they’re going to be ready for that opportunity.
Baseball
Tennessee is back on the road this weekend for another rivalry series at Vanderbilt. The Commodores, like the Florida was, are desperate for more SEC wins with only six games remaining in the regular season. They are unranked and sit with 11 wins in league play heading into the weekend.
Vanderbilt is a team that is battered and bruised and has been all season. Star infielder Jayden Davis, who leads the squad with a .319 batting average, hasn’t played since undergoing surgery to repair damage to his orbital. He was hit in the face while batting against Mississippi State on April 27 and hasn’t played since. His status for the weekend is up in the air.
Others have been in and out of the lineup while some, like slugging infielder Chris Maldonado, are out for the season. Vanderbilt sports a team-ERA of 4.83 and is middle of the road in pretty much every pitching category in the league. Offensively, they run well (82 steals on 95 attempts) so managing base runners will be of great importance. The Commodores hit for extra bases, but don’t leave the yard much.
Stats aside, Vanderbilt is desperate and will give its rival everything it has on its home field. Speaking of that, the Commodores are really good at home (26-6) and dreadful on the road (3-10). So, this should be another highly intense SEC weekend for the No. 1 ranked team in the country.
The Vols sport the nation’s top-ranking in all five major polls and are currently No. 8 in the RPI. This week, D1 Baseball had UT as the No. 3 overall seed in their latest Field of 64 Projections. That’s just that – projections – but a series-win this weekend would likely lock a top-8 national seed, if they haven’t already.
We are officially on AJ Russell watch.
Tennessee’s Opening Day starter has worked back to be in position to help this team down the stretch. It is unclear at the moment if he will be on the active roster for this weekend at Vanderbilt, as that decision won’t be made until sometime Friday, but our guess is that he will be, just to have that option. That doesn’t mean he will pitch, but it is always good to have the option.
“There’s a possibility. I don’t know what the Vegas odds would be but there’s a possibility,” Tony Vitello said on Fanrun Radio this week when asked if AJ Russell will see action this weekend. “Whenever we do integrate him, it’s going to be with a specific plan. As of right now, we don’t have a specific plan where he would be starting one of those games – I can tell you that. We are not going to require of him or ask of him to close or finish a game his first time back. So, we will see. It’s reached a point to where he is throwing off the mound, so it is more about when is the right time or when is he truly prepared. Also, when do we need him? That’s kind of the most honest and easiest answer I can give you.”
Information has been pretty limited this week regarding Russell, as expected. One source indicated to Volquest that the hurler is ‘close’ after throwing another successful bullpen session on Tuesday.
In a perfect world, it would make sense to hold him out again this weekend and then let him potentially ‘open’ the final midweek game of the season. Maybe even ‘open’ the Wednesday game in Hoover for the SEC Tournament to ease him back into competition.
Though, as mentioned several times here on Volquest the past month, Russell will be used in short stints once he returns. He could ‘open’ ballgames by pitching an inning or two – something Tennessee has done a lot of this season in the weekend rotation to combat traditional starters – or be used in middle relief or high-leverage situations towards the end of ballgames.
But it is apparent that AJ Russell is very close to making his return to the mound for Tennessee, of course barring a late setback. That is fantastic news for the Volunteers as Russell is arguably their most talented pitcher.
One other note worth monitoring this weekend, Christian Moore is just three home runs shy of tying Sonny Cortez (1998) for the program-record of 24 home runs in a single season. Moore sits at 21 on the year and is already the program’s career leader in homers at 48 (three more than Blake Burke at 45).
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