Butch Jones and his staff aren’t afraid to use some paper, they’ve shown that in their first few months of recruiting.
Back in March 3-star ATH Stanton Truitt came home to find 102 letters from Tennessee shoved into his mailbox.
On Monday Vol legacy and linebacker target Dillon Bates came home to over 100 letters from the Volunteers.
Dillon Bates is the son of Bill Bates, a safety who played for the Tennessee Volunteers from 1979-1983 and was a four year starter. The elder Bates went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys from 1983-1997 where he won three Super Bowl rings and was selected to the 1984 Pro Bowl.
The younger Bates is being recruited heavily by not only Tennessee, but also by Alabama, Florida, Notre Dame, South Carolina and Texas among others. Bates is 6’3″/220 lbs and is rated as a four-star linebacker and the 22nd overall player in the state of Florida by 247Sports.
On March 25 JC Shurburtt, the director of recruiting for 247Sports, predicted that Bates would choose Tennessee. In total 14 recruiting analysts have made their predictions for Bates and they’ve all predicted Tennessee as his college of choice.
On April 11 Bates hinted that he may make his college choice known this summer.
Coming close to picking out a date to announce.. I'm thinking sometime this summer
— Dillon Bates (@dillonbates) April 11, 2013
Most consider Bates a lock to be a Volunteer come National Signing Day in 2014, but Butch Jones and staff, as evidenced by the 100 letters they sent, aren’t taking anything for a lock these days.
For more on Tennessee Volunteers Recruiting make sure to follow us on Twitter @AllforTennessee