Tennessee football: Kaidon Salter named Elite 11 QB

The Tennessee football Volunteers’ future quarterback was solid at the Elite 11 Finals.

It’s official. Tennessee football will add another Elite 11 quarterback to its roster next year provided there are no decommitments. Kaidon Salter, who comes from Cedar Hill High School in Cedar Hill, Texas, committed to the Vols back in May.

A four-star across all major recruiting services, Salter is a dual-threat quarterback who stands at 6’1″ 185 pounds. He has spent the past three days performing at the Elite 11 Finals in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

While Caleb Williams was named MVP, Salter was one of the other 11 quarterbacks to earn the “Elite 11” title after the event. That means he was at or near the top half of the 20 quarterbacks who performed there this week. The quarterbacks who earned the title were named on the Elite 11 Twitter page.

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Results for Salter were mixed initially. On the first day, he stood out to head coach Trend Dilfer for his dramatic improvements, particularly with his accuracy down the field that began to show. However, his early impressions kept him out of the top 10 among SI’s standout performers. A day later, though, SI had him in the top 10 while 247Sports had him in the bottom half of performers.

Wednesday, though, was the telling day. The quarterbacks competed in an accuracy gauntlet inside an indoor practice facility. After that competition, Salter was able to earn the title, which was decided on by the Elite 11 coaching staff, who evaluate the talents based on their performance at the Elite 11 Finals and their junior year performances.

With this title, Salter is Tennessee football’s third Elite 11 quarterback in three years. Five-star 2020 commitment Harrison Bailey earned the title last year, and three-star 2019 commitment Brian Maurer earned the title in 2018.

As a result, when Jarrett Guarantano, who competed at the Elite 11 Finals way back in 2015, graduates after this year, Jeremy Pruitt and Jim Chaney will have an array of talent to choose from for their next starting quarterback entering 2021. The roster is in great shape there now.

Salter is still a rising star, and this addition to his recruiting accolades are what bumped him up from a three-star to a four-star on Rivals. At that point, Tennessee football’s top five ranked class could gain even more breathing room and further separate itself from all other classes except the Ohio State Buckeyes class, which will likely stay No. 1.