Tennessee football recruiting: Vols lose 2 top 2018 targets to GT in 5 days

Tennessee football recruiting has taken a major hit. The Volunteers lost two top 2018 targets to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets within less than a week.

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It’s painful enough to lose one target that should be yours to a much lesser program. But it hurts worse when two go in five days. And that’s exactly what happened to Tennessee football.

The Vols lost out on an in-state four-star and a Kentucky prospect with roots in Tennessee to the team that they will be facing in the 2017 season opener: The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

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Nashville, Tenn. defensive back Jaylon King committed to the Yellow Jackets on July 27, and Bowling Green, Ky. linebacker Justice Dingle followed him five days later. Both players were in the top three in our most recent ranking of recruits the Vols should prioritize.

King was one of the few top in-state prospects the Vols had not secured yet. Of the 12 four-stars on Rivals, he was the fifth player to commit somewhere other than UT. Only one in-state four-star, Jerome Carvin, is left for Tennessee.

Should they lose him, then they would have secured only have of the top 12 in-state prospects according to Rivals.

To be fair, King actually appeared to be leaning toward the Vanderbilt Commodores if you go by the 247Sports Crystal Ball. But it’s still not good to lose out on a prospect like him.

Following King, though, came a bigger hit with Dingle. Tennessee did appear to be more heavily in the running to land him.

And although he’s from Kentucky, he spent most of his football years in Murfreesboro, Tenn. That’s where he was up until last year.

As a result, the Vols had a very legitimate chance to get him, and he was basically an in-state prospect. So losing him to Georgia Tech as well was a big blow.

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Butch Jones and his staff still have plenty of players they can go after, so this is no time to panic. However, Tennessee football could have used both of these players. And losing them five days apart is a hit for 2018 recruiting.

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Tennessee football recruiting: Vols lose two top 2018 targets to Georgia Tech in five days

By Caleb Calhoun | Aug 1, 2017

Tennessee football recruiting has taken a major hit. The Volunteers lost two top 2018 targets to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets within less than a week.