Tennessee Football: Vols Just Had an Amazing Recruiting Week

Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones just wrapped up an incredible recruiting week. The Volunteers secured four key commitments for their 2017 class.

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It wasn’t the same as their major June haul-in. That was mostly about making sure roster spots were filled.

But after two weeks of a recruiting dead period and then SEC Media Days last week, Butch Jones and the coaching staff were back to securing elite commitments for the Tennessee Vols. And they just had a historically great week in doing so.

It started on Tuesday when the Vols secured commitments from the Gaddy Twins, Brandon and Breyon, three-star and four-star defensive tackles respectively from the Virginia area.

The next day, they nailed a four-star all-purpose back in C.J. Cotman out of Florida.

And then, on Thursday, Jones nailed an elite wide receiver for the class, four-star Jordan Murphy out of Southern Mississippi.

There are numerous ways this was an amazing week.

For starters, just the numbers. These were four commitments, and three are four-stars on Rivals while one is a three-star who could be upped to a four-star before the year is up.

Next, we take a look at where he secured his commitments. Jones is looking to quickly build up depth at defensive tackle for the future, and he made sure to do that with the Gaddy twins. Now, the Vols have six defensive linemen committed for the class, three ends and three tackles.

This is similar to the historically great offensive line class Jones brought in for the 2015 season.

C.J. Cotman, meanwhile, is a huge pickup since Alvin Kamara will likely be gone after this year to the NFL. Cotman could fill in and quickly become that replacement, something Jones was looking for.

Meanwhile, Jones is always looking for elite receivers, and he desperately needed another one with Tee Higgins’s de-commitment. And he hit the jackpot with Jordan Murphy. Currently, Murphy stands at 6’1″ 165 pounds, but he will likely put on another inch to be able to become a wideout once he arrives in Knoxville. He’s the third receiver of the class.

So these recruits filled the needs of the Vols, and they also doubled the number of four-stars in the program.

The result was Tennessee moving up to No. 6 on the board for Rivals, and they could keep climbing.

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Jones has always shown himself to be a great recruiter but also one who can focus on specific needs and evaluate talent before it’s marked up. These are huge bonuses, and he’s doing that this year more than ever before. With 22 commitments already, this will be another huge class.

It looks like it will be another elite one too, thanks in no small part to what happened this week.