As a lifelong Middle Tennessee resident with a couple of family ties to the University of Tennessee,
Fisher Anderson naturally hoped that he eventually might get a scholarship offer to play football for the Vols. He just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. The Class of 2022 offensive tackle from Franklin (Tenn.) High School said he was pleasantly surprised to pick up an offer from Tennessee a little more than a week ago, and he admitted it was “very exciting and a joyous moment” when he received the news.
“It was kind of a surprise when I got the offer from them. It was before I had expected, but I was hoping it would come eventually,” said Anderson, who’s expected to be one of the top prospects from Tennessee in the 2022 class. “It was a very, very exciting moment. I couldn’t stop smiling, just because it made it a reality to have that as an option to go when the time comes.”
Anderson, who also holds early offers from Kentucky, Missouri and South Carolina, said he didn’t grow up dreaming of playing “specifically” at Tennessee. But he was born and raised in Franklin, and he already holds the Vols in high regard after visiting them three times within the past nine months. “There wasn’t a specific tie to (Tennessee growing up), because my parents were both very evenly spread on the encouragement to go wherever,” Anderson said. “Also, they weren’t forcing their opinion onto me in any way to their respective colleges, so I’m grateful for that. “I’d say any type of being a fan of UT started coming after my sister went there.”
“From what I’ve seen, I really like the coaching, how kind of true they are right now,” he said. “Of course, I don’t have anything to base it off of, except for just a couple other coaches. But I like how they all the coaches (grew) up the same way. They all have the same (humility) and values. “And Coach Pruitt, when I talked to him, was very flat-out. He didn’t try to say anything to try to make UT bigger than it really was.”
Anderson said he’s already planning on "getting up there for a camp” next month to take a closer look at Tennessee and work with the Vols’ coaches on the field. He also has visited South Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Louisville and Western Kentucky to this point, and he said he’s hoping to make a few other stops sometime this summer. “We have planned to go to South Carolina, close to around the time of UT,” Anderson said. "I don’t really know for sure (where else I will visit) — maybe Auburn. I don’t know. Maybe places like Clemson or Kentucky, but not for sure.”
