Tennessee Volunteers National Signing Day Recap

The day started off with a lot promise for coach Butch Jones and the Volunteers.  Now that everyone is signed the feelings are mixed on the 2013 class.

Tennessee didn’t lose a single commit today, which is a victory in itself.  You never want to lose a commit to another school so keeping their commits in tact was essential for today. Defensive end Jaylen Miller was the first undecided player to sign with Tennessee today. There was little doubt that he’d be a Volunteer, but he made it official this morning. Miller was a big signing for Tennessee and several recruiting outlets rate him as a four star recruit. He had taken official visits to Wake Forest and NC State this weekend.

The Vols seemed to be on a roll after Miller signed as word got out that Josh Dobbs had decommitted  from Arizona State and decided to attend Tennessee.  Dobbs is a four star quarterback that is extremely well rounded.  He can get the ball down the field and beat you with his legs as well.  Dobbs projects as the type of player that would be a perfect fit to run Butch Jones’ offense.  Getting Dobbs was a huge flip for Tennessee and Vols fans were feeling very good about the day when word got out about him choosing Tennessee.

The 10 AM hour brought tremendous disappointment for Tennessee. Word initially leaked out that Vonn Bell was a done deal, going to Tennessee for sure.  Several reputable media outlets even tweeted out that Bell was a Vol.  When it came time for his announcement he put on an Ohio State hat.  Bell is a five star safety that grew up a Tennessee fan.  He was considered integral to this class for Tennessee and his signing with Ohio State is a colossal let down for the Vols.  Stephen Hargis, with the Times Free Press, quoted Bell’s father as saying “This is because of Dooley, if Tennessee had recruited Vonn since day one he’d be going there, coach Jones had too much ground to cover”.  Those aren’t words any Tennessee fan wants to hear, and regardless of who’s fault it is, it leaves Tennessee with a hole they had hoped to fill.

Shortly after Bell signed with Ohio State, wide receiver Tyler Boyd announced he’d be staying with his commitment and attending Pittsburgh.  This wasn’t a huge loss for the Vols, as they’ve had a solid recruiting class at the wide receiver position.  Tennessee also missed out on running back Johnathan Ford, a previous Vanderbilt commit, as he signed with Auburn.  This wasn’t a total shocker.

Tennessee did manage to flip one more recruit as Syracuse commit Malik Brown signed with Tennessee. The three star defensive end is a big get for the Tennessee.  They improved their defensive line considerably with this class despite missing out on Carl Lawson and Davin Bellamy.

Now that it’s all said and done the Volunteers missed out on their biggest target, Vonn Bell, but picked up a huge signing with Josh Dobbs. When you conisder the damage done by the previous staff and the ground that Butch Jones had to cover, the Vols had an OK day.  It of course wasn’t the day many had hoped for but a solid day and they end up with the number 21 class overall according to Rivals.

You can check out the full list of signings here. 2013 Class