Sep 8, 2012; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers linebacker Willie Bohannon (86) recovers a fumble from Georgia State Panthers quarterback Ben McLane (16) during the third quarter at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
The Tennessee Volunteers 2014 recruiting class, with seven commitments so far, is already starting to take shape. A big question now is who is the most important player so far in the 2014 class?
Of the players that have already committed to play at Tennessee it would be very easy to suggest that five-star running back Jalen Hurd is the most important, simply because of his higher position in the recruiting rankings. That logic is plenty understandable, albeit slightly flawed.
Hurd is a fantastic looking prospect and there’s no doubt that he is an extremely important piece of the 2014 class for Butch Jones and the Vols. The only problem I have with saying he’s without-a-doubt the cornerstone of the 2014 class is my belief that a running back should never be considered that most important piece. Now that’s no sleight to Jalen Hurd, or anyone else that has ever played the position. There’s been plenty of game-changing running backs that were the centerpiece of the offense. Running backs like Adrian Peterson at Oklahoma, Reggie Bush at USC or Trent Richardson at Alabama. Those guys were all considered the focal point of the offense, but even then they weren’t the most important players on the field.
For example in 2006 Adrian Peterson missed seven games for Oklahoma. The Sooners did not lose a game during that seven game stretch. There’s little to no debate that Peterson is one of the best college, and now NFL, running backs to have played the game, but even without him Oklahoma was able to win seven in a row on the heels of a good defense.
More and more the production that comes from the running back position is becoming dependent on the scheme that is being ran. You’re seeing more plug-n-play guys — basically finding a guy that fits the offensive scheme, that has decent talent and plugging him in the lineup.
So like I said, I’m not trying to to necessarily devalue the running back position, just stating that it shouldn’t be the first non-quarterback position that you’d consider building a class around.
So who does that leave us with from the current commits?
There’s really only two other choices outside of Hurd from the players already committed that you could consider — Todd Kelly and D’Andre Payne.
Defensive back of course isn’t a position you’d build a football team around. I’m not saying that in any way. But it is a good position around which you’d build a recruiting class. I believe the db position has become one of the more undervalued positions in college football — at least by fan standards.
Tennessee’s lack of depth at the position was evident early and often last season. The Vol’s secondary struggled mightily at times and was a contributing factor in several of the team’s losses in 2012.
Adding some solid db’s was no doubt on Butch Jones’ to do list when he came to Knoxville. Getting verbal commitments from Todd Kelly and D’Andre Payne definitely gives the Vols some depth and some great young players to build their secondary around in the near future.
Now the question we have to ask is which one means more to the 2014 Tennessee Volunteers recruiting class?
Todd Kelly was a player the Vols absolutely had to lock up. Tennessee couldn’t afford to miss out on another lifelong Vol fan à la Vonn Bell. If it wasn’t for the damage that former head coach Derek Dooley did to the Volunteer’s recruiting reputation in the tri-state area than Vol fans would’ve probably never sweated Kelly’s commitment.
Jones, however, is not Derek Dooley and immediately made Kelly (and other Tennessee natives such as Hurd and Vic Wharton) a priority. The Tennessee faithful didn’t have to wait long for Kelly’s decision as he became the third commit of the 2014 class on March 10th.
Kelly’s commitment shows how serious Jones is about “winning the state”. Kelly’s decision to attend Tennessee created somewhat of a snowball effect as three more players committed in the five days following Kelly’s announcement.
That alone would seemingly be enough to label Kelly as the most important player in the 2014 class, but D’Andre Payne’s commitment may mean more, at least at this point in the recruiting process.
Payne is the first major verbal commitment in the 2014 class that Butch Jones and Tennessee received that had no previous connection to Tennessee.
D’Andre Payne’s commitment shows the rest of the country that the Volunteers are going to be a major player in the 2014 recruiting battle.
Payne, a four-star db from Washington D.C., chose the Vols over Georgia, Florida State, LSU, Michigan and Ohio State among many others.
The fact that the Vols, with a brand new coaching staff, were able to lock down Payne this early (he committed via Twitter on April 3rd) says a lot about this coaching staff and their relentless recruiting ability.
Payne’s commitment opens the door for more possible commits such as his teammate, fellow four-star defensive back Jalen Tabor.
The commitment of D’Andre Payne also signals to fans, players, coaches and whoever else that matters — whatever Butch Jones and Tennessee are selling, people are buying.
To beat out Urban Meyer at Ohio State, Les Miles at LSU and Mark Richt at Georgia for a four-star recruit in a completely neutral area is a huge breakthrough for Tennessee, the kind of breakthrough that fans have been long for the past few years.
While labeling one of these recruits as the “most important” in the class so far may be impossible depending on your criteria, I definitely believe that you can learn the most from D’Andre Payne’s commitment.
There’s a long way to go before National Signing Day but Payne’s commitment is a sign that the Vol’s 2014 class has not even come close to peaking yet.