“I really liked it. (It was) just a relaxed day,” said Mondon, who’s ranked the No. 31 overall prospect and No. 2 outside linebacker in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite for the 2021 class. “I like it here.” The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Mondon said he decided to visit Tennessee because of “just my relationship with” tight ends coach
Brian Niedermeyer, who already has been in frequent contact with Mondon over the past several months. “For a while now, he’s been trying to get me up here,” Mondon said of Niedermeyer.
Mondon said Saturday’s visit allowed him to spend time with Niedermeyer, along with Vols head coach
Jeremy Pruitt, first-year defensive coordinator
Derrick Ansley and inside linebackers coach
Kevin Sherrer. “Coach Pruitt was talking about my versatility, that I could play inside or outside linebacker,” Mondon said. “Just anywhere on defense, I’m good,” Mondon said.
Tennessee is intriguing to him, he said, because of his “relationship with the coaches,” led by Niedermeyer. “Talking with the coaches, I feel like it’s more than just football,” said Mondon, who also holds early offers from Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, South Carolina and Texas A&M, among others. “I can, like, rely on them.”
Mondon said he’s hoping to return to Tennessee as early as this season. And while he said he has “no leaders” right now, he told 247Sports’ Anna Hickey last month that the Vols were one of a handful of teams that already had developed strong relationships with him, along with Clemson, Auburn, Alabama and Georgia.
“Well, really, every school is equal right now. It’s, like, no leaders in the front,” Mondon said. “But I’ll try to come back here (to Tennessee). If not a game, then I’ll come back for a visit after the season, sometime in the winter.”