Tennessee Football Recruiting: Vols Lose Out on Javonta Payton, Who Commits to Ole Miss Rebels

Tennessee football recruiting took its first big hit Wednesday morning on National Signing Day when in-state athlete JaVonta Payton committed to the Rebels.

He was only a three-star, but with Tennessee football desperately needing skill players, the Vols took a major hit on Wednesday morning.

Athlete JaVonta Payton committed to Hugh Freeze and the Ole Miss Rebels over the Vols.

A Nashville, Tenn. prospect from Hillsboro High School, Payton has a solid size for a skill athlete at 6’2″ 170 pounds.

And he can do it all on offense.

Payton led his team this past year in rushing yards, receiving yards, and total touchdowns. He was the only guy his team could rely on the entire year.

And it looked like Tennessee had a great chance to get him, as he was keeping all of his options close to home.

However, when the dust settled, Payton committed to Ole Miss instead.

With his commitment, the Vols lose out on a very versatile offensive player, and he is the second of five major targets they lost out on.

To be fair, he did visit Ole Miss after visiting Tennessee, so maybe the Rebels had more of a lasting impact on him since they were more recent.

But whatever the case was, Payton is gone the morning after the Vols realized they lost out on four-star defensive tackle Elijah Conliffe.

Butch Jones’s quest to add versatility to the 2017 Tennessee football recruiting class did not get off to a good start the night before or the morning of National Signing Day.