Vols Football: Report Card for Each Position in Tennessee’s 2015 Class
Jan 2, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Jalen Hurd (1) stiff arms Iowa Hawkeyes defensive back Jordan Lomax (27) in the first quarter of their 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports
Running Backs: B
For the second straight recruiting class, one of Tennessee’s highest rated recruits checks in at running back. Alvin Kamara, a junior college player and one-time Alabama player, is a five-star prospect who was rated as the No. 1 overall JUCO player by 247Sports, and he is one of the headliners in Tennessee’s class.
Kamara brings the kind of athleticism and quick feet at running back that the Vols haven’t seen in quite some time. Current Vol sophomore running back Jalen Hurd is a bruising back that is hard to bring down and possesses impressive escape speed, but Kamara is a dynamic play-maker with a skill set that will remind Vol fans of Cordarrelle Patterson from 2012.
Hurd already has the potential to be a superstar in the SEC, and now the Vols have added another potential star in Kamara.
Kamara saves this unit from being a major disappointment in the 2015 class, however. Rocky Reid and Kendall Bussey are two running backs who were at one point committed to the Vols but decided to take their talents elsewhere. The Vols added John Kelly, a three-star back out of Oak Park, Michigan, and he will be a valuable addition purely based on the lack of depth at the position, but he lacks the star power Bussey brought.
The Vols have the option to convert athletes Joc Bruce and Vincent Perry to running back (even thought the two are now gray shirting and will technically be 2016 recruits), but they will take time to develop at the position. Those two may not even end up at running back, as Bruce is being looked at as a receiver and defensive back and Perry at receiver and punt returner.
Tennessee returns only one scholarship running back from 2014 in Jalen Hurd, so adding bodies was a must in this cycle. The Vols added two backs, but they could’ve used another clear-cut running back to round out the class.