College Football

Tennessee Football Recruiting: Vols 2017 National Signing Day Primer

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:35 p.m. ET

Fansided, Caleb Calhoun/FanSided via All for Tennessee

For the week leading up to 2017 National Signing Day, check Tennessee football recruiting news, updates, and analysis here. See how the Volunteers perform.

After a second straight 9-4 finish and Top 25 ranking to end the season, Butch Jones and Tennessee football are now looking for another strong ranking in recruiting.

The Vols did not finish with the year they wanted in 2016 given their Top 10 preseason ranking, but they have demonstrated now that they can stay in the mix with Jones at the helm. Now, the focus has to be on continually putting together solid recruiting classes.

Here, we will work to bring you all the necessary coverage of Butch Jones’s fifth recruiting class. Between now and the end of next week, this is where you can come for all the news updates, all the changes, and all the commitments.

So with lots of focus on the future now with Joshua Dobbs gone, here is a real time look at Tennessee football’s 2017 recruiting class.

In the Clubhouse (28 Committee) (Rivals Star Count Next to Name)

Who’s Enrolled?

Who’s Committed?

Recruiting Battleground

Top prospects Tennessee football strongly in the running for

One of the most versatile players still up there, the Vols’ best chance for a big splash on National Signing Day is Elijah Conliffe. The guy seems to have Tennessee football as his top choice right now, and he would seriously beef up an interior defensive line that took a lot of hits this year and needs to improve.

LaBryan Ray is the most talented player in the bunch, and it’s pretty impressive that Tennessee football is in his top three. However, the Vols have some work to do because getting the top player in Alabama to leave Alabama when Nick Saban wants to is a hard thing to do.

Aaron Sterling is another versatile defensive tackle that the Vols could definitely use, and they probably have a better chance at him than they do LaBryan Ray. But he isn’t as good as Ray, and the Vols aren’t a favorite to land him like Conliffe. Still, they have a great chance at closing the deal because their top competitor is Will Muschamp and South Carolina.

Three Storylines to Watch

1. How strong will Tennessee football’s recruiting class be in the trenches?

Tennessee football already has five defensive ends committed, two defensive tackles committed, and three offensive linemen committed. That’s 10 players in the trenches committed already, and four of them are four-stars: two offensive linemen, a defensive tackle, and a defensive end. And that includes elite offensive lineman Trey Smith from Jackson.

Given the series of injuries last year, Butch Jones was right to focus on beefing up his defensive line, especially with the losses last year. Both units should be loaded already. But he’s clearly not done.

As you can see with the previous subject, Tennessee football is focused heavily on securing elite defensive linemen, with their top three prospects all on the defensive line. So this class could be historically great in the trenches. But this leads to another question.

2. Will the Vols pick up anymore skill players?

Tennessee football already has elite skill players like Ty Chandler, but with this year more focused on the trenches, Butch Jones had to be more meticulous with the guys he brought in.

Guys like Javonte Payton are still on the board, but he’s only a three-star. Any skill players that the Vols bring in from here on out will likely be guys that don’t have high ranking, so Vol Nation will have to hope that Jones, who is great at scouting undervalued talent, finds some steals.

But getting a couple of extra bodies combined with elite talent in the trenches could help Jones and Co. with this final storyline.

3. Can Tennessee football close with a Top 10 class?

After his first year, Butch Jones won over the fan base through his recruiting by securing back-to-back Top 5 recruiting classes. He did it by signing a ton of players and stacking the roster.

The roster was so loaded that he was forgiven for bringing in a class ranked outside of the Top 10 last year because he focused on bringing in the right guys to fill voids. This year, however, he was back to signing a huge class, only this time it’s struggling to stay in the Top 10.

Right now, the class is No. 10 on Rivals, but the Vols are limited on the splash they can make going into National Signing Day, so they could fall out of the Top 10 easily. Jones focused this huge class on once again filling specific voids, but it’s not as top-heavy as the other loaded classes he got. So we will have to see if he can keep this class in the Top 10.