Boykins told 247Sports Don Callahan this week that Clemson, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina are the four schools sticking out to him, and his visit with the Vols easily lived up to his expectations. I mean, it was all of what I thought it was going to be, said Boykins, whos ranked by 247Sports as the No. 336 overall prospect and No. 24 outside linebacker in the 2019 class. Everything was nice big-time SEC football. They had nice facilities. The stadium, it was overwhelming, being down there 102,455 people. It was crazy.
Talking to Coach Pruitt, everything was nice, Boykins added, referring to new Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt. The 6-foot-0.5, 221-pound Boykins admitted he didnt know at first that Pruitt had been hired in December as the Vols coach, but he was excited about that. He said Pruitt is one of the reasons hes now strongly considering Tennessee, and he believes Pruitt will succeed in turning around the Vols program. I buy that all the way, Boykins said. I mean, Coach Pruitt said he knows exactly what to do. He won championships and all that. Hes been at a lot of great places. Hes one of the best defensive minds in college football, so it would be nice to play for him since I play linebacker.
Theyre changing the schemes and everything, so theyre running a whole new defense now that Coach Pruitts there.
I mean, I would like to play in a system like that. Thats a wonderful defense hes fixing to install. Boykins said the best part of his trip to Tennessee was probably talking to Coach Pruitt. He was just like, This year is going to be the worst record well have while Im here, Boykins said, recalling his conversation with Pruitt. He said hes going to get this thing turning in a hurry, and he said he wants me to be a part of it. He said, Youre one of them linebackers Im used to seeing. He coached at Alabama and Georgia and stuff like that, so he was like, Yeah, this is what Im used to seeing right here.
In college Im trying to play Will play inside, play Will backer be in space a little bit, still fill the B-gap, he said. And (Pruitt) said I can be that guy for the defense and all that. He said hes most interested in the Vols because of Pruitts staff, along with the defense and the chance to play big-time SEC football. And he made it clear he will visit Tennessee again, probably by this summer. "If I make my decision during the season, Ill probably try to get to a game or something like that, Boykins said.