Jones then traveled to the St. Louis area, where he joined the Vols entire defensive staff, wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni and two of UTs track and field coaches for their in-home visit Thursday night with five-star cornerback Adoree Jackson and his family in his hometown of Belleville, Ill. Tennessee was the last of three teams to visit Thursday with Jackson and his family, who also received visits from Southern California and Florida before meeting with the Vols coaches. All three schools sent their head coaches for the in-home visits, which gave them an opportunity to sit down with Jackson and his parents at the same time before he returns to the West Coast to resume his classes at Junipero Serra High School in Gardena, Calif.
Jacksons visit with Tennessee lasted until late Thursday night, and while he couldnt be reached for comment afterward, he posted on his Twitter account that his in-home visits with the head coaches went great. If nothing else, some believe the three teams that met with Jackson and his family Thursday could be an indication of where things stand in his recruitment. Florida and USC have been widely viewed for months as two of the front-runners for the 5-foot-9.5, 182-pound Jackson, whos ranked the nations No. 8 overall prospect in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite. And its starting to appear that Tennessee also might be among his group of favorites with less than three weeks remaining until National Signing Day on Feb. 5. LSU, Oklahoma and UCLA also were included in the top six Jackson released earlier this month, but its now possible that the head coaches from all three teams will be forced to meet separately with Jackson and his family now that hes expected to return to California on Friday
Jackson has managed to avoid tipping his hand throughout the recruiting process, leaving many to guess which schools might be at the top of his list, and that hasnt changed heading into the final weeks of his recruitment. There doesnt seem to be any clear consensus on where Tennessee stands with Jackson right now, so it might be premature to refer to Florida, USC and the Vols as the three teams to beat. Still, UT appears to be more of a contender for Jackson than many outside the state of Tennessee might believe, and his familys relative proximity to Knoxville undoubtedly is one of the factors working in the Vols favor.
