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Tennessee Football Recruiting: Five National Signing Day Predictions for Vols

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:47 p.m. ET

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Nov 19, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view before the game between the Missouri Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Butch Jones is down to the final hours for his 2017 Tennessee football recruiting class. Here are five Signing Day predictions for the Volunteers.

In terms of quantity, this Tennessee football recruiting class looks a lot more like Butch Jones’s first two full classes. But in terms of rankings, it looks closer to the class he had last year.

Jones and his staff are in the process of putting the finishing touches to their 2017 recruiting class, and while they hope to have a couple of splashes on Wednesday, it looks like the unit is mostly complete.

Currently, the Vols have the No. 11 ranked recruiting class on Rivals with 27 commitments. All services have them in the 10 to 15 range when it comes to rankings.

While that may not be where fans want the classes to be, history says that Jones has a unique ability to scout overlooked talent.

And he has a unique habit of missing on five-stars who commit at the same time.

So maybe this range in recruiting is not such a bad thing. And it could get better. There are still a lot of things in play with one more day of recruiting to go, and the Vols are not letting up.

In this post, we’ll take a look at what we think will happen within this final day. The Vols are right in the thick of the race for lots of people, and they have to hold onto others.

Here’s a look at what we think will happen in all of those situations. These are the five National Signing Day predictions regarding Tennessee football.

Nov 19, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones during the first quarter against the Missouri Tigers at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

5. No more Tennessee football prospects will decommit from the Vols.

This was a major issue for Tennessee football as the Vols began to slip during the November stretch run last year, and it killed the class Butch Jones was in the process of putting together.

Overall, the 2017 Tennessee football recruiting class has suffered 13 decommitments.

Most notable, the two Gaddy twins decommitted from the Vols, which was a huge issue and forced Jones to change his recruiting strategy down the stretch.

Given the fact that eight players have committed to the Vols since that November disaster, there is reason to fear that Jones could suffer more decommitments on Wednesday.

But there is some good news on this front.

For starters, the most prized recruit since then, Trey Smith, is a Tennessee native who appeared to always have Tennessee as his top choice. It doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere.

And the other guys all committed knowing the drama that took place, including three of them who committed after the news of the staff changes. So they likely committed to Jones or the Vols, and neither of those factors will change after Signing Day.

Meanwhile, the guys who committed before the end of the regular season stayed throughout the drama, they stayed through the staff changes after the season, and they stayed despite the news of other decommitments.

So it’s not likely any of them would change their mind at this point on where they want to go, even if they are looking at other places.

Oct 15, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers mascot Smokey X during the second half against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Neyland Stadium. Alabama won 49 to 10. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

4. Tennessee football will lose out on LaBryan Ray and Aaron Sterling.

This is news that most Vols fans following the recruiting period expect but don’t want to hear.

LaBryan Ray is the top guy that Tennessee football is still targeting, as a four-star defensive end on Rivals from Madison, Ala. Picking him up would be amazing for the Vols.

And they clearly seem to be in the top two to get him. However, the other team in the running for him is the Alabama Crimson Tide.

He is also the top player in the state and Nick Saban’s top remaining target.

Alabama’s best player does not leave the state of Alabama if he is the Tide’s top target. That is something that just does not happen.

Trey Smith trying to recruit him is giving some Vols fans a ray of hope, but it would be a huge shock if the Vols could get him.

Meanwhile, Aaron Sterling is a four-star defensive tackle on Rivals, and the Stone Mountain, Ga. prospect has been down to the Vols and the South Carolina Gamecocks for a while now.

However, consistently, every recruiting report has shown Will Muschamp and the Gamecocks to be his top overall choice.

And that makes sense.

Given the way Tennessee has gone after defensive linemen in this class and the talent they already have, Sterling would have to worry about playing time in Knoxville. And he wouldn’t be playing for a defensive genius on the level of Muschamp.

Those two things give him a perceived much better chance to shine in Columbia. But it’s not all bad news for the Vols when it comes to elite talent they’re still pursuing.

Sep 17, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view during the first half of the game between the Ohio Bobcats and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

3. Tennessee football will pick up Elijah Conliffe.

This is great for the Vols as Butch Jones tries to finish this recruiting class with a historically great collection of defensive linemen.

Elijah Conliffe has been on Tennessee’s radar for a long time, and all reports suggest that the Vols have consistently been his top choice.

Tennessee is having to fend off the Florida Gators, Louisville Cardinals, and Penn State Nittany Lions to get the Hampton, Va. prospect.

At 6’4″ 305 pounds, Conliffe is a four-star defensive tackle who is known for his versatility given his size.

And that makes him perfect for the Vols, who need immediate help at defensive tackle and more versatility.

So Conliffe, given his frame, could step in early and play. That has to be good for him.

Other great news for the Vols is that they have a long and solid history of picking up elite prospects out of Virginia, and the location appears to favor them. It’s one of the pipeline states they enjoy, and Hampton is not far from Knoxville.

These two things combined with the fact that Tennessee has consistently been the favorite to land him suggest that he will pick the Vols.

It’s also great news that he visited the Gators and the Cardinals more recently than the Vols but gave no indication of moving them ahead of Tennessee after that visit. That suggest that Tennessee football is still No. 1 in the running to get him.

And his commitment will help with our next prediction.

Oct 25, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers fans outside Neyland Stadium prior to the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

2. Tennessee football’s 2017 recruiting class will finish with at least 30 commitments.

This isn’t much of a bold prediction considering the fact that the Vols already have 28 players committed to the class. But when you consider the fact that Elijah Conliffe, a splash pickup, is the only guy that they appear to be a clear favorite for, it is.

Our prediction of Conliffe committing to the Vols will put them at 29 commitments. Afterward, Butch Jones will pick up one or two three-star recruits.

One of them, we predict, will be Jordan Pouncey, a three-star wide receiver on Rivals out of Winter Park, Fla.

Pouncey moved Tennessee into a tie for his top choice immediately after his visit, which apparently had a huge impact on him according to all reports.

Meanwhile, the Vols’ new offensive coordinator, Larry Scott, has plenty of connections into the Florida area, where Pouncey is coming from. That has to help the Vols in recruiting.

Texas and Miami are his other finalists. But Tennessee football is a real contender.

If not Pouncey, the Vols still have a chance with Javonta Payton, a three-star athlete out of Nashville, Tenn. who is clearly prioritizing location over everything else with Tennessee and Middle Tennessee seeming to be his top two choices.

There is a chance Jones could pick up both guys and Conliffe to get to 31 guys.

That would match his peak number of commitments in a Tennessee football recruiting class, which was 31 in 2014.

We are bold enough to suggest he will nearly match that this year, and it leads to the final bit of good news on these predictions.

Oct 4, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view of Neyland Stadium before the game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

1. Tennessee football will finish with a Top 10 recruiting class.

Given the fact that the Vols have the No. 11 ranked class on Rivals right now and are going to have fewer splashes than most teams on National Signing Day, this seems like an extremely bold prediction.

That’s why most people project them to finish in the 12 to 16 range.

But by picking up Elijah Conliffe and a couple more three-star recruits, the quantity in the Vols’ class combined with the number of four-stars will be enough to get them into the Top 10 on Rivals.

After all, Conliffe’s commitment will give them 10 four-stars, and they’ll have 31 commitments overall. That should be a huge plus.

Conliffe is a four-star across all services as well, so they all could bump the Vols into the Top 10 if he commits.

Meanwhile, the other guys we named are three-stars across all services. And actually, Trey Smith is a higher quality prospect across other services outside of Rivals, which is boosting Tennessee’s average overall.

So if Conliffe, Payton, and Pouncey all commit, they would likely have enough to get into the Top 10 on most services.

Currently, they are No. 14 on 247Sports, No. 11 on Scout and USA TODAY, and already No. 10 on ESPN.

So 247Sports would be the only one where they have a serious uphill climb to get into the Top 10 if all three guys commit.

But that should be enough to propel them. And if one of those commitments fall out, provided it’s not Conliffe, they should still finish in the Top 10.

So we are going with this bold prediction that one more four-star and one more three-star is enough to keep the Vols in the Top 10 for 2017 recruiting classes across the major services.

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