Vols Football Recruiting Based on Roster Needs (OL/DT)

Intro welcome back to the bluechair breakdown balls fans I'm your host Bull and we've got a lot of recruiting stuff that's going to be coming up here over the next few months we kind of talked about this that from May to about the start of the season in August it's going to be pretty much all hands on deck to try to close out on players going to be several guys coming up on visits we know we've got the 865 live coming up at the end of this month but then June we're going to be starting a lot more official visits so this is going to be part one of an ongoing Series where we're breaking down our current roster and then you know what we need moving forward Bo we'll also talk about where we stand with the players at each position of need so please make sure before we get into the video to like And subscribe to the channel we're going to be talking about offensive line and defensive tackles today all right so let's start off with Offensive Line the offensive line great news for us this season is we've got several seniors that are going to play and that have played for a very long time we should expect some good dep behind them as well but the bad news is going to be those seniors cannot return for 2025 so it is going to be on those underclassmen to step up in a very major way not just throughout this season but obviously in the offseason next year heading into 2025 but for the seniors they cannot return we've got Cooper Maye at Center we all know what he brings to this team and we've got javante spragin who's been our Right Guard he's been one of the better offensive lineman on this team John Campbell who is now at right tackle he's played left tackle for us as well so very versatile Dane Davis Kind of the same thing could be said about him just as far as being versatile but he's even more versatile because he can play any position on this offensive line line he's going to be a backup but he is a swing tackle guy primarily Andre Carrick at guard and we've got Jackson Lampley also at guard but he could play a little bit of Center for us as well so we are going to be leaning very heavily on the seniors and just so everyone understands how this is broken down with the classes it's not really based off of what their class is from a football perspective where we've got the red shirts and things like that it's more based off of how long they've been out of high school okay so let's just keep that in mind as we're moving forward and while I'm talking about that down here in the right that is the breakdown of the positions with the offensive line so at Center we've got R to four currently and next season we are projecting to have two to three at that position so on and so forth now on to the Juniors we've got Larry Johnson at tackle he's a guy that we do think can step in and be a pretty viable option I think that he looked pretty solid in our orange and white game but we'll see what he does obviously throughout the rest of the season and then heading into the off season and then we've got MSI reic also at tackle he's been out for all this spring so we can't really gauge where he's at at this point but you're hoping that he does step up for us and then we've got Gus hillet guard haven't seen him play very much at all so kind of hate to say this but he's probably not a guy that we're going to be depending on moving forward same thing can be said about Brian Grant at tackle now for the sophomores we've got Vice and Lang at Center he's probably going to be the guy in 2025 Lance herd at tackle we already know as long as he does stay with us hopefully he does enjoy his time at Tennessee this season we have a whole lot of success but we are going to need him at left tackle he's going to be plug and play for the next two seasons for us then we've got Aiden Buell at guard he can also kind of play tackle I didn't really put that in here because he's been working primarily at guard really felt great about him uh you know coming out of high school I thought he would be a guy that could kind of play early but we see that he had to gain some weight his first year on campus and he's just kind of struggling to get his technique and fundamentals right but we would expect that you know in the off season this year and then this entire season then you know the offseason next season he should be in a good position where we can trust him to at least fight for some serious playing time you know either 1 a or one B at one of the Guard positions very hopeful about Aden Buell then we've got Trevor Duncan who just made the transition to tackle love his frame you know I love his footwork he's a really good athlete I think that he's got a really good shot especially once he starts to fill out throughout this year I think that he's got a pretty good shot to fight for one of the starting tackle positions it would have to be at right tackle so we'll see what happens there but then we've also got shamod umarov who can play tackle or who play guard I think he's going to be our starter at left guard this season so that should give him a whole lot of obviously you know experience heading into next year where he might kind of have that spot lock down moving forward but we kind of get into a bond and we can also throw him over there at right tackle I think that his entire frame and makeup is more built to be a tackle but again I really like him at guard as well now for the true freshman we've got William satwi at Center like what I've seen from him so far he's just going to have to get bigger really the same thing can be said about all the Freshman that we're about to go through then we've got Max Anderson who's a guard or a center he's looked pretty good at Center and at guard I like his upside a lot Jesse Perry at tackle like what I've seen from him so far Gage gther I think he's looked pretty good at tackle he's goingon to have to continue to get stronger Bennett Warren we haven't seen him just yet but he will be up on campus here soon how much has he progressed p and I talked about this uh you know over the weekend or something you know we just said hey he's got everything that you would want he just has to you know maybe lose a little bit of weight get his a little bit faster and be able to bend some more right like get some more flexibility if he does that then he could definitely be another one that we say hey he's going to be fighting for a starting position at the right tackle and then we've got Jeremiah's herd now I'm kind of speculating here because he's got that perfect tackle frame but do we want to throw him over there at defensive tackle where we're pretty short-handed that we're about to get to that here in just a minute y'all going to see uh just how short-handed we are inside of that room does he kind of you know get a first look there or does the staff say we think that he's got too big of an upside to not try to play him at offensive tackle so that's how we're looking as far as offensive line goes currently and again okay we've got 21 Uh current offensive linemen and we will only have 15 as far as we are projecting uh you know coming into the 2025 season so let's go ahead and flip the page to the recruits that we are targeting in the 2025 class starting off with David Offensive Tackle Sanders at offensive tackle he's the number one offensive lineman in this class he's a five star he does have an official visit coming up on June the 21st we're hoping that we can get him in for that 865 live event especially with other players coming up there because we do kind of feel like that could either help him to close out or even kind of help us to get some other guys because he does seem like he's definitely trending towards Tennessee sounds like it's between us Clemson and Ohio State the way that it's been for about a month now but the Insiders feel really good about this one so if we could get David Sanders that would be huge but again as you kind of look at how much tackle depth we have especially talking about the underclassman with our team this season I really like the upside of all those guys those are some really good players that's the best offensive line class that we brought in by far it's not even close so do we feel like uh you know we should be bringing in a whole lot of tackles I don't know what the staff thinks several right here on this list that we're going to go through I would say that if the staff can get them all you probably bring all of them in but they probably won't all be playing a tackle I think we've got a little bit more of a needed guard but obviously David Sanders is number one on our offensive line list and the great news for us as fall fans is we're in a great position with him on to Jaylen Matthews who's a fourstar he could play tackle or he could play guard he does also have an official visit coming up here on June the 14th now he's a player that we don't know exactly what's going on with him because he was supposed to be uh announcing where he's going to be going like a month ago or you know he said hey something's coming out here soon but it hasn't happened maybe he has uh you know gone on a couple of visits and he's kind of reconsidered where he was leaning to I think that we're in a really good position with him as well we'll see okay we've also heard about Georgia uh and some other schools but who knows I think that he might kind of be waiting to see how everything plays out as far as what team that he really likes you know who are they bringing in he may not want to see a whole lot of competition some players don't like that some players are just fine with it but he might not like it so we'll keep you up to date as we get some more news on him does sound like he is trending mostly towards our volunteers and we are expecting that he should be on campus for the 865 live event next player is going to be Juan Gaston he's a fstar offensive tackle leaning very heavily towards Georgia as far as what I've been hearing but we still have a good shot now some of this stuff might not be up to date as far as the uh you know official visits and things like that not quite sure if Juan Gasson has set one up behind the scenes that I haven't seen about but I would expect for him to at least come up and give us a real visit uh and give us a you know real look but he has visited Tennessee a couple of times and he also has a teammate and Travis Smith that is trending towards Tennessee at the wide receiver position we'll talk about him in a different video but I do think that we are in a pretty solid spot with Juan Gaston as of right now we bring him up you know on a couple of visits you you know 865 live and then that OV maybe we can kind of turn the tide some more where we can bring him in I wouldn't say it's a huge deal if he does not commit because we're in a great spot with David Sanders and with uh Jaylen Matthews now the next player is going to be Josh Petty who I have listed as a guard but He's listed as a five five star offensive tackle and he can play both but just because of his stature I think he's going to be more of a guard body especially for us again being that we have a little bit more of a pressing need I feel like at that guard position he does have an official visit setup June the 7th and I think that you know him growing up as a Tennessee fan we should be in a really good spot you know I don't know what happened but at some point Tennessee kind of fell behind some other schools I think he just needs to feel more love from our staff he's definitely going to be getting that don't know if he's coming up to the 865 La event but if he does that would be huge he's not that far from uh Knoxville you know I think that he's from like Roswell or something like that maybe like a three-hour Drive something like that so he should be able to come up several times on campus and get a good look at you know what we are projecting him to do for us moving forward again I think that there should be a good chance for us to close out on him being that he would have a good shot to compete for some playing time early on as a true freshman then we've got Andrew babalola who's another five-star tackle not quite sure what's going on here okay he doesn't have an official visit setup we might kind of be on the outside in sounds like he's trending more towards some Midwest schools uh Kansas Oklahoma com to mind for me but if we could get him in that would be huge just to maybe add to a guy like David Sanders I don't think that we need to add a bunch of tackles in this class but again if we can why not uh you know I say the more the merrier the plan could be to maybe push out some of the guys that are turning into veterans that are still not able to see the field and bring in a younger influx of talent that would just make the most sense to me but I cannot speak for the staff so the next player is going to be Nick Brooks at tackle he's a four star again not quite sure where Tennessee is with him but I do know that we are you know like in his top five so hopefully we can close out with him no official visit setup as far as I can see don't know about the a65 live either we should have some more information on that y'all coming out here as we get closer to that time it's going to be at the end of this month so I would say maybe like a week or two out we should be able to get out uh you know some more list just kind of saying hey these players are expected to be joining us and the ones that are going to be joining us we can say yeah Tennessee is in a pretty good spot for with them now the next player is going to be at guard and that is jacobe Ward he's a three star and I think that Tennessee is in a pretty solid spot with him but really the next player an Tony aurro and I don't know if I'm saying his name right Ed guard he's a three star he's got an official visit uh that he already went on May the 4th I really like his game you know he's a guy that I think could also play tackle but the staff has already came out and said that they like him more at guard so don't know what's going to happen with him he's from Oklahoma sounds like Oklahoma might be the team to beat uh you know same thing about Kansas I think he wants to kind of stay close to his family he's not super far away coming to Knoxville but obviously those schools being a lot closer I can tell you uh cuz I have family out in Oklahoma they are not typically going to travel very very far away right I mean sometimes they do but usually they kind of stay close because it's not a very populated place uh it's just different as far as what I grew up with here in Georgia you know like more of the city type of vibe where you know you're not too afraid to go away from home so I don't know how things are going to play out with Antony but hopefully we can close out on him because again I really do like his game now let's talk about the defensive tackles and the first thing that should Defensive Tackle stand out to everybody is that senior group Elijah Simmons Bryson e Big O and Omar nman lot will not be returning after this season and whenever we're talking about the tackles we're only going to be playing two at a time so our four deep encompasses those four players after that it's not a whole lot of depth okay we do have some really good players I would say two to three guys that I think we can really trust in Coach G is going to do a great job of getting the most out of everyone and then we do rotate a lot because in that rabbit's package we're going to have some strong sidin that will bump in and play tackle for us and then we'll move some Leos around at the other ends just to get more of a pass rush look so we will be able to stay fresh from that perspect perspective but as we're looking back at this list keep in mind that those four guys are the best on this team and I would say it's not necessarily close unless you talk about a guy like David Hobs we could maybe even throw Jackson Moy into that list as well but looking at the Juniors Cameron Douglas haven't heard a whole lot from him I think he's pretty solid Joshua hon same thing can be said there now got a question mark next to Jamal Wallace's name because I'm not sure what class he's going to be coming in with just because he's a Joo guy transferring in is he gonna be a junior or is he going to be a sophomore or even a freshman not quite sure on that front so not quite sure how much time we're going to have with him but I think that he should be a really good defensive tackle option for us talks a lot about maybe playing outside on the edge as a strong side defensive end I just think that he's going to to lose too much weight for that to be possible but if he stays up around 300 lbs with the twitchiness that he has he can be a really really good player uh very similar to like a David Hobbs and a Jackson Mo and maybe even Bryson e just you know as far as being a bigger body uh and being Twitchy we could even throw Omar Norman Laden to that mix as well let me also point this out Tim AMT I've got him listed up under the seniors because that's where he has that's that's where he is as far as how long he's been out of high school but he is a red shirt Jr I expect for him to be joining us again next season haven't seen a whole lot from him looked pretty solid I would say in the orange and white game but you know as we're going through talking about the sophomores Nathan Robinson is another one that I think looked really good in the orange and white game uh you know again I feel like David Hobbs is going to give us a ton he's going to be our best defensive tackle more than likely uh you know heading into the 2025 season then at freshman we've got jeremi herd I've got a start next to him because I'm just not sure if he's going to be playing tackle on offense or on defense we'll see what happens once he gets up on campus and down here to the right the total uh tackles that we have in 2024 is going to be 11 to2 after that we are anticipating to have 7 to8 and Defensive Tackle Recruiting looking at the defensive tackle recruiting we've got Ethan Utley already committed he's a fourstar absolutely love his game because he's got the size and he's got that burst he's got the twitchiness that Coach G loves with his defensive tackles and we just named off a few players earlier that are very very similar to an Ethan Utley I think that he's going to have to play a lot as a true freshman the other good thing about it is you can tell that he's got a very high football IQ that's going to come in handy in a very major way just because we're not very deep at that position Ethan Utley is going to have to step up for us big time in the 2025 season now these next two players I believe Tennessee has the best chance with out of everyone else on this list starting off with Charles house who's visited Tennessee several times he is a voline he's a three star reminds me a lot of an Ethan Utley okay he is that bigger Twitchy body I think that he's a little bit underrated as a three star we'll see what happens uh you know as on three and 24/7 Sports and all these other sites continue to evaluate these players Michael Thacker would be the other one that I feel like Tennessee has a really good shot with now he is from Indiana he's Notre Dame several times will he want to stay in state or does he want to you know maybe venture out just a little bit and come on down to Knoxville again knowing that we have a very pressing need at his position I think that he could come in and give us a lot now the next couple of players in jaro Carter who's a fourstar kind of an outside in uh you know shot for Tennessee sounds like he's more of a Florida lean then we've got Brandon Brown who's a Texas commit uh but he is going to be coming up on a visit June the 7th so we'll see what happens can we flip him from Texas that will be huge again just knowing that Tennessee has a very pressing need at the tackle position then we've got Christian Garrett who will be coming up on campus on June the 21st he's another fourstar Isaiah Campbell who's a Clemson commit who is expected to be joining us for the 865 live event now we know that Davos swing does not like for his commits to visit other schools if that happens I think that Tennessee is in a really good spot to be able to flip Isaiah Campbell from Clemson and then the last player is going to be Bryce Jenkins who's another fourstar defensive tackle he will be up on campus for an official visit June the 21st I think Tennessee is in a pretty good spot with him sounds like he really does like Tennessee but he's one of those players it doesn't seem like you know he's going to talk a whole lot about where he wants to go hopefully we can close out on him because again we are in dire need of some defensive tackles in this class that's coming up now I will say this it's because we probably won't be able to close out on most of these players having Ethan Utley in the boat is really good I think that we would primarily want to add one more really good defensive tackle in this class sounds like that's Charles house but why not add one more just for some depth purposes I feel like this is going to be uh a position that we're going to be going out in that transfer portal very very heavy after the season just because we have got to get some more starting caliber bodies and I could be way off on this you know a lot of this will depend on how some of the other players that I would call maybe tweeners that are upper classman that haven't seen the field very much how do they per form in 2024 if they show hey we can be breakout guys and we can play at at a really high level then I would say that Tennessee doesn't necessarily need to go to the transfer portal and get too many people but I would say we probably will at least be targeting one really good defensive tackle for the 2025 season but that's going to be it for this video again y'all we will have several more coming out here over the next few days breaking out every single position group on this team I hope that y'all enjoyed it please make sure to like subscribe hit that notification Bell share with your friends family and other volunteers fans we'll see y' on the next one thanks peace