Tennessee Football Trail Tidbits: Reacting to Vol Targets Through Early High School Football

[Music] hey what is up everybody another football season upon us and that means the return of Trail tidbits Trail tidbits is a Tennessee football recruiting mini podcast here at volquest.com I'm your host Eric Kane but the expert the guy you are here to listen to he is Matt Ray Matt football season is here Tennessee gets going on Saturday but several Tennessee targets for both a little bit in 25 mostly 26 of course and Tennessee commitments for the class of 2025 already underway and already impressing we're gonna we're gonna highlight three of those here today yeah I mean it just feels good to have football back we got a little bit of a you know a fake fall there it felt like as far as the weather goes it was nice some cool crisp mornings it felt fall in the air but we're back to the heat I was out a little bit in Nashville this weekend it was in the 90s at kickoff but it's just good to have football back here in the East no doubt you look at the screen right here if you're watching on YouTube Tennessee of course class 20256 nationally as of the time of this recording fifth in the SEC 24 commits and uh man this class of course headlined by Five Star Plus offensive tackle David Sanders who made his commitment uh a week ago um it's been a really really good August for the University of Tennessee but one of those commits I do want to highlight is Travis Smith and Travis Smith through two weeks of the high school action of course the four star wide receiver he has put on an absolute Clinic Matt uh what has he done so far and what is he going to bring to of course this this team when he eventually gets here on campus I mean Travis Smith just put on a show in a week one loss against Langston Hughes is a really good football team there in the Atlanta area but I think if you would have told anyone that Westlake got that type of production from Travis Smith you would have expected them to win the ball game but nine catches for almost 300 yards and a couple of touchdowns is he just absolutely torched a really really good langsten Hughes defense he followed that up this past week against a really good dougless team there in Atlanta that is you know home to Georgia defensive back commit jonte Gilbert who if you're a Tennessee fan and you follow recruiting pretty hard you're familiar with you know he was he visited Tennessee's campus several times and the vaults were you know in a good position and that recruitment at different times early in it as they decided to go in a different direction ultimately later on throughout that process and earlier in the spring but Travis Smith had four receptions for 45 yards and a highlight ra touchdown um against that Douglas team a team that's really good and help Westlake to a victory but I mean if if you haven't seen the video on social media I would encourage you to find Travis Smith's Twitter and go watch it because I mean it's a it's a short throw to the boundary on the right side he catches it he's bottled up and then out of nowhere um somehow escapes makes another man miss in the middle of the field brings it the full L full width of the field and kind of dances into the end zon just a really special night and a really good start to the season for Travis Smith who you know I think as you followed Tennessee recruiting in the spring and then into the summer you know you kind of see where Charles power has him raided out there he's in my opinion an on three outlier right now and you know Tennessee was courting the likes of you know Jamie fr and Caleb Cunningham and both of those guys are really good receivers in their own rights but Travis Smith right there in that upper echelon of elite receivers and a guy that can go get it and you see though I mean that we've answered this question a lot Monday night chats Eric we've answered it across the board I mean you look at Cedric Tillman that's a guy that I I think Travis Smith Reminds a lot of people of there's really good long speed there he's not going to blow you away out of the gates but what he does in terms of his long speed his ability to go down the football field and win 5050 balls is special that's something Cedric tman was able to do during his time on Rocky Top but you feel like at this point in their career Travis Smith coming out of Westlake Cedric Tilman coming out of Bishop Gorman at the time is a very underrated Prospect it feels like Travis Smith is further along in his development his route tree just the ability to you know create a little bit more separation and do different things so a very bright start to senior season for Travis Smith that was a if you're watching on YouTube that that comparison there over on his on three profile that was a young Ceder tman Young Young Ted tman of Bishop Gorman and um yeah Travis Smith again week one nine receptions 267 through the air two touchdowns week two um he had four receptions 48 yards a touchdown through three games or through three game two games or three games sorry two games two yeah two games 13 receptions over 300 yards receiving three touchdowns man he's he is on fire no doubt so uh that's a good starting point let's go to the quarterback for this class of 2025 of course we know all about him that is George mckintyre and you were on hand to watch his first game didn't didn't go the way that he want to but obviously some of your takeaways let's hear him yeah you know I mean I think you're looking at a Brentwood Academy team that went two and 10 last fall um you know won a play play off game there after going one and nine in the regular season that's just the state te baby that's just the state of Tennessee High School football right now again let's remember this Matt it's already to cut you off he was a a quarterback of a one and nine football team but he was an uncommitted five-star Prospect and everybody loved him Tennessee of course loved him then still loves him now but everybody loved him then and then here we are as a senior and the the team's not going to get much better it feels like yeah I mean you're talking about they finish out the season two and 10 and in January he's coveted by Tennessee Alabama who's still you know Nick Sav still there obviously at the time like number one guy on their board for 2025 Josh HPP and Company love and multiple other schools in the recruiting process loved George McIntyre and called him up until the very end for his commitment um but like you said Eric now he's he's a guy that you know comes back for his senior season and is you know on a Brentwood team that's trying to find a new identity under Paul Wade they're a little bit more run first um you know George found himself in some obvious passing situations and was down a playmaker on Saturday against a really good CPA defense a CPA defense that flies around flies to the football and is very sound in everything they do from a coverage standpoint so you not not many advantageous situations for him you know in terms of throwing the football you know did end the game with a a pick you know in the Red Zone late after Brentwood Academy blocked a punt and it was it was a poor throw it was his worst throw of the night and George will be the first person to tell you that is a really you know a nice read by a Defender but you know when you look at the CPA beat Brent Wood Academy last year you know at this time by a point another game that came down to the wire and you know I don't think there's any cause for alarm of you know what George McIntyre's done I think George McIntyre is is who he is I think he's a very special quarterback prospect that can do pretty much anything that Tennessee ask of him to do he can make all the throws on the football field um if you watched on on Saturday night you know a guy that once he gets outside the pocket can extend plays naturally always looking down the field um just you know it's going to be a grind for him this senior season it feels like at least here out of the gates we'll see maybe brenwood can flip a switch you know brenwood Academy can flip a switch they played brenwood this week and another big rivalry game so they have a chance to to get back out there and and get things going in their Direction but you know it's definitely a changing offense for George McIntyre and some things that they're going to work through and and they got to find some Playmakers on the edge and they have to be able to protect him a little bit better as the season goes on you know just watching those clips that you shot while you were on hand Saturday night um it didn't throw the football down the field a lot but like the throws and you can speak to this more you know you see a power F power four quarterback he's throwing across the field long throws you know from you know the far has to the numbers I mean that that's what he was doing routinely in just the clips that you showed me right there that we showed uh here on this podcast so I mean the throws look fine they just you know the calls weren't to stretch the field at least in that specific game and we'll see how that offense evolves as the year goes on but I think it's important to point out here like yeah sure maybe you know GM made a couple mistakes in that game Tennessee loves their quarterback for class of 2025 and nothing's going to change that no no absolutely not this has been their guy for for some time and nothing's going to change that and you know again I think you you have to hope that that offense continues to evolve if you're any any coach at any level you want to see your team evolve week over week right um so you I think you with Brentwood Academy and you have a guy like George there's definitely a chance to do just that and uh he's a guy that you know I I remember talking to his dad last fall um before he was committed to Tennessee and he just talked about some of the things that you know he dealt with after a loss just kind of how he let those losses eat him up and and the way that he would go to the film and turn to the film and break everything down and you know George McIntyre is a fierce competitor so you know it's not we week one's not going to sit right with George McIntyre and you know just look for him to keep going out week after week and competing because when I saw him in the last game of the year after they won that first playoff game after going and n and improved to two and N then they you know headed down to mcau and and lost to Lost down there in Chattanooga he was so beat up at the end of the season he was dealing with numerous small injuries that were you know hampering him and he's still out there running for his life so I mean again it's one of those deals where you have to just continue to progress week over week but as far as what Tennessee has in George McIntyre they love it yeah and that that last sequence of clubs that I just put up here on on the show if you're watching that was last fall against CPA and so I mean obviously game plan last fall was to throw it over the middle throw throw it down the field that that wasn't so much this past week but of course we'll we'll be keeping tabs on GMAC all season long the last player I want to highlight here Matt and um let's go to class of 2026 now I mean a lot of the hay is in the barn Tennessee is still going to be looking for a running back Tennessee is still going to be evaluating options on the defensive line um there could be a little bit of movement with the 2025 class but you got 24 commits turn the attention to 26s who will be on campus for unofficial visits here in the fall let's go to Savon Haider uh one of the better running backs in this class put out a top five a couple days ago and you had the inside track on this one from the get-go Tennessee of course finds themselves in that top five yeah I mean I think this is a guy for Tennessee that has been at the top of their board dating back to when Jerry Mack was here and then the switch over for derell Sims again pretty pretty easy to identify you know haer as as guy that they want that they feel like can be dynamic and provide an electric spark to this offense I think he's a guy that's different than some of the running backs that they've recruited in terms of what he does but you know I've talked to him a pretty good bit here this fall and he is really connected with theil Sims um he he's really excited to get back down here you during the season to take in a game but haer is at one of the Premier schools boarding schools in the country there at Woodberry forest in Virginia and he's a guy that really is inde depth in the process so like there wasn't one of these guys he he's got all the offers that you can imagine right but he didn't need to cut it down to to 12 or to 10 and then to eight then to five no he went straight to five I think those are five schools you'll see him take an official visit to next summer um and try to get out and see you know this fall in some capacity and then you'll see him go into a pretty in-depth decision-making process but it really came as no shock to us and if you are a subscriber over at vquest you in and reading the generals quarters routinely you knew that he was going to cut his list before the season and you knew that Tennessee was going to be on there and a big part of that is because of the relationship with the Sims with Aston Walter you know those two guys I think have done a really nice job there for Tennessee they were the first school to call in there at midnight when they were able to start reaching out to prospects in the 2020 six class directly I think that mattered to him and then I think the offensive production is something that mattered to him he was well aware of what Tennessee's been able to do with guys like Jaylen R what Dylan Samson has a chance to do you know this fall he he sees the ability to to get to the second and third level pretty naturally and you can see what he does once he gets there if you watch his highlight film um you know but overall I think not just on the offensive side of football right but on on both sides of the football now for Tennessee when you start looking at what they've done under Josh hopp some of that stuff is starting to to catch up in terms of recruiting and recruiting successes you know I've had a chance this offseason to talk to top 100 Edge Tristian given top 100 Edge cam Brooks you know the top 2027 number one overall Prospect Le Damian G who is is a pass rusher and and right away James Pierce comes up Byron Young comes up what Tennessee is doing Landing a guy like Jordan Ross comes up on the edge and I think overall you're seeing that start to come a little bit more across the board jayen Wright's making plays in the NFL now you're seeing Tennessee running back show up so you're drawing more of that attention and I think that's something that certainly has hater's attention as he goes into his junior year and Tennessee continues to swing big there with him I mean you're looking at this highlight tape that we just played and looking like the uh Elizabeth and Cyclones out there with those jerseys he's a he's a powerful Runner he's quick he outran the camera on one of those plays uh there was one that was highlighted you know the caption was 10 yard fight and that's exactly what he did he was dragging Defenders running through Defenders so obviously as you pointed out he can go anywhere he wants to in the country he's a you know top 50 player nationally according to the on three industry rankings he's top 30 at 29 on Three's got him at 45 247 49 um you know Rivals 28 and ESPN 56 I mean across the board I mean he's a consensus dude essentially so looking forward to you know seeing Tennessee's involvement there over the course of the next couple of uh months Matt so now the focus as we kind of shifted there to the 2026 class there's going to be a lot of guys that'll be on campus um as the season goes along um we're going to have a lot of stuff for you here on trail Tibbits as as the year goes along you're going to talk to a number of uh targets and just some 2025 commits you're going to go out and see a bunch of guys it should be a funfield football season for Tennessee but also every single Wednesday right here at volquest.com right absolutely I mean it's just it's good to have football back and you know next week as we get ready to head to Charlotte we'll have plenty more to talk about with 2025 and 2026 is but man it's it's good to be back Tennesse in Charlotte remember that is a neutral sight game next week for NC State but first it's the mock UTC coming up this weekend uh Trail tidbits every single Wednesday right here at vest.com he is the experts of our sites wink AP uh he is the expert that is Matt Ray I'm Mary Kane appreciate you guys for joining us here on trail tibits volquest.com