‘23 TN OLB Caleb Herring (Tennessee Commit)

BOOM! He’s from HS my wife went to a couple years back. Murfreesboro has excellent talent and if we can pick whoever we want from here, we will have some great players.
 
Tennessee added to what was already a top-10 recruiting class nationally and continued its recent hot streak Tuesday by landing one of its top in-state targets, four-star Class of 2023 edge rusher Caleb Herring. The top-100 prospect from Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro, Tenn., picked the home-state Vols over Georgia and scholarship offers from more than 30 other schools, including Miami and Southern Cal.

Steve Wiltfong, 247Sports’ director of recruiting, Herring’s commitment is “just another terrific recruiting win” for Tennessee coach Josh Heupel’s staff.

Five-star quarterback Nicholaus Iamaleava of Long Beach, Calif., committed to the Vols nearly a month ago, and Herring joined defensive lineman Nathan Robinson of Greenbrier (Tenn.) High School and lineman Trevor Duncan of nearby Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic High School as the third in-state player to commit to the Vols within the past nine days.

Herring, who’s the younger brother of Tennessee freshman linebacker Elijah Herring, is the No. 1 prospect from the state of Tennessee in the 2023 class and the second-highest ranked player among the Vols’ eight current commitments.

“I mean, he is an explosive player off the edge that can play with power,” Wiltfong said of the younger Herring, who’s ranked by 247Sports as the No. 50 overall prospect and No. 6 edge rusher in the 2023 class. “He’s a guy that can get after the quarterback for you. He can run. He can hit. He’s physical, and I think there’s a whole lot of growth potential there.

“But I just like the motor that he plays with. He’s going to bring some versatility, and (he is) a guy that can really be impactful for Tennessee down the road.”

Herring piled up 66 tackles, including 24 tackles for loss and seven sacks, along with a pair of pass breakups and two interceptions during his junior season at Riverdale. He has been one of Tennessee’s top in-state targets for more than two years, dating back to former coach Jeremy Pruitt’s tenure.

“To go out and get a guy that made 24 tackles behind the line of scrimmage last year, that’s explosive and twitchy and rangy, it’s a great pickup,” Wiltfong said.

“When you turn on film of Caleb Herring and Nathan Robinson, man, you see guys that are making a living behind the line of scrimmage. It has to show up on film in high school, and it certainly does, and those are guys that have a chance to be really disruptive players.

“And, again, just a nice foundation for what Tennessee’s trying to build back up to, with those guys and (freshman defensive lineman) Tyre West and (edge-rusher signees) James Pearce, Joshua Josephs.”

Cooper Petagna, a 247Sports national recruiting analyst, said Herring is a “raw athlete that flashes an excellent pass-rushing tool kit with athletic upside.”

“At 6-foot-5 and 1/2, Herring will need some time to develop physically into his frame at the next level to become a more consistent defender when playing the run, but already shows the ability to win with speed and explosiveness off the edge in passing-down situations,” Petagna said, adding that Herring is a “high-ceiling athlete that will benefit greatly from a collegiate weight room and SEC coaching staff.”

Herring also “has the ability to play off-ball and drop in coverage when needed,” Petagna said, “while possessing some scheme versatility.”

Tennessee moved up from No. 9 to No. 8 nationally in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite team rankings for the 2023 class with the addition of Herring, who plans to join the Vols in January as an early enrollee.

“They’re starting to put together a class that can really turn the tide of Tennessee football,” Wiltfong said. “I’ve said it before, but this is a program that hasn’t won 10 games since 2007. It’s just wild — and that is a long time ago. It seems like yesterday. It was a long time ago.

“And I think that last year’s class had a nice foundation to really build on. And you add guys like Caleb Herring to that, and I think it’s really elevating this program to get back to the heights they want to be at.”

After signing just two players from the state of Tennessee in the 2022 class, Heupel’s staff already had received commitments from five in-state players in the 2023 class.

“Obviously, the recruiting chops on this staff, I think that was maybe a question mark at first,” Wiltfong said. “But I think that, when you look up and down, Tennessee’s coaching staff is a staff full of really good recruiters, and it’s starting to bear fruit on the trail.”
-Callahan
 
You're really a Vol Fan, acting like a dawg fan, admit it.

Nah, I'm from Georgia, graduated from UGA a long time ago. As I've gotten older, I find it easier to be objective (although often objectively wrong) when thinking about or discussing college football. Even so, when I post on other team boards I generally try to avoid saying negative things about their team because it comes across as trolling. I've read enough message boards that I can pretty easily spot "trolls" of the fake allegiance variety, and I'd honestly be embarrassed to post under false pretenses like that.
 
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This should help with Vic Burley and Bradley. Having a high ranked defensive player committed should help defensive recruiting.. Tennessee is definitely becoming the cool school thanks to Nico, Baseball, and Basketball getting a lot of social media exposure.


Having Herring and Smith soon should really help somebody like Burley.
 
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Following the pattern of the Colts when Peyton was there. Had the big scoring offense, but they didn't win championships until they got a disruptive pass rusher (Feeney) and a solid interior D-line.
 
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This is Awesome! Will definitely help the momentum on the D side --- serious question, he's a bit light right now in terms of SEC Edge, so are we looking to add LB's on the frame or will he transition to a linebacker?
 

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