Perspective on this year's class as of now

[jvols1999]

Notable IMO that last cycle we hosted 30 OVs in the summer window. Incredibly, TEN of those (Farooq, Ginther, Goree, Lewis, Carter, Beasley, Merklinger, Echols, Perry, Lindstrom) were from prospects who'd already committed to UT!

Right now, on March 18th, we're already locked in with 24. ONE of them (Dodson) is committed to UT already. Also very notable, IMO, is that literally every single one of these prospects has offers from at least one program that's played in the 4-team CFP. Oh yeah, and we've got the #12 class overall with just 6 commitments, but those happen to include a 5-star QB, a Top 200 TE, and four 3-stars with offers from UGA/Bama/MIchigan/PSU/UF among them.

June 7th Weekend
WR Marcus Harris
IOL Darius Afalava
EDGE Jaydin Loftin
DL Brandon Brown (Texas commit)

June 14th Weekend
OT David Sanders
OT Jaelyne Matthews
EDGE Jared Smith
EDGE Zion Grady
EDGE Damien Shanklin
DL Caleb Williams
DL Charles House
DL Jaylen Williams
DL Ethan Utley
LB Abduall Sanders
CB Jontae Gilbert

June 21st Weekend
WR Joakim Dodson (Vol commit)
WR Travis Smith
LB Ty Jackson
EDGE Mariyon Dye
DL Brandon Caesar
DL Christian Garrett
S Lagonza Hayward
CB Onis Konanbanny
CB Tre Poteat

Starting today, we've got another 29 prospects - all of whom have offers but don't yet have OVs scheduled- planning to visit unofficially between now and the O&W Game on April 13th. Most if not all of those are elite prospects as defined by having offers from CFP programs:

RB/WR Daune Morris
RB Bo Jackson
RB Shekai Mills-Knight
WR Jamie Ffrench
WR Dillon Alfred
WR Sam Turner
WR Cooper Perry
WR Ti Mims
WR Caleb Cunningham
WR Dejerrian Miller
WR Edward Coleman
WR Phillip Bell
TE Da’Saahn Brame
OL Mal Waldrep
IOL Peter Langhi
IOL Jacobe Ward
DL Jarquez Carter
LB Jaedon Harmon
EDGE Jayden Woods
EDGE Nasir Wyatt
EDGE Denim Cook
EDGE Grayshaun Swain
S Jaylan Morgan
S Javion Butts
LB/S Eric Winters
LB Christian Gass
CB Shemari Earls
CB Chris Ewald
CB Dawayne Galloway
S Trey McNutt

The takeaway? We're in MUCH better shape than we were at this point last cycle and have a real shot to sign our best class in decades.

 

[VOLfrombama]

IF, and its a pretty bit if at this point especially with the OL and secondary so up in the air at this point, Heup and co can somehow pull off a playoff appearance this season, he could potentially pull off the best class since prospect rankings started. You can see/hear the buzz. They have a golden opportunity to capitalize on that.

 

[Vol423]

IF, and its a pretty bit if at this point especially with the OL and secondary so up in the air at this point, Heup and co can somehow pull off a playoff appearance this season, he could potentially pull off the best class since prospect rankings started. You can see/hear the buzz. They have a golden opportunity to capitalize on that.

The OL is NOT up in the air at this point. This will be the best offensive line we've had in many years.

 

[VOLfrombama]

The OL is NOT up in the air at this point. This will be the best offensive line we've had in many years.

Who is the LG? For that matter, who is RG? If you say Davis, Lampley, Umarov, and Lang then I will reiterate that the OL is very much up in the air.

Karic cant seem to stay healthy. He had clean up surgery? But missed almost the whole season? Something is off there.

Davis has played tackle for his entire career. How well can he transition to Guard? Only time will tell.

Lampley couldn’t really get much PT until the end of the season and was one of the lowest graded contributors from last season so he will need to take a huge step forward if he’s going to be the starter.

If/when Sprag can get healthy that should solve part of the equation, but LG is still a mystery at this point, especially with depth. And injuries always happen so you need more than 5. They went through this same situation last season and it was a revolving door at LG. That was a huge problem against the best teams on the schedule. Unfortunately they dont have the answers now.

 

[jvols1999]

Staff has now converted an UV from WR Jamie Ffrench into an OV the weekend of June 14th