Tennessee football recruiting: Punter Paxton Brooks commits to Vols for 2018

Tennessee football picked up its 21st commitment for 2018. All-American punter Paxton Brooks committed to the Volunteers.

Butch Jones snagged his kicker for the future of Tennessee football in this past recruiting class by getting Brent Cimaglia. Now, with Trevor Daniel set to leave after this year, he has his punter for the future as well.

Paxton Brooks, an Under Armor All-American high school punter, committed to the Vols Thursday night. He made his commitment two months after the Vols lost Skyler DeLong, who flipped his commitment to Alabama.

The 21st commitment to Tennessee announced his commitment to the school on Twitter.

Despite no ranking on Rivals, Brooks is still a very good punter. He’s an All-American, and he will immediately have a chance to start.

After all, he does fill an immediate need at the kicking.

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Kohl’s Kicking online has him as the No. 2 punter in the nation for 2018 behind Georgia Bulldogs commitment Jake Camarda.

Meanwhile, he has proven himself as a good place kicker as well.

According to an article on Volquest, he averaged 41 yards per punt and hit 8-of-10 field goals as a junior.

At 6’5″ 170 pounds, Brooks comes from Airport High School in West Columbia, S.C.

He picked the Vols over the N.C. State Wolfpack, the Army Black Knights and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

By committing to the Vols, Jones should be set on special teams at least for the next four years. And should Aaron Medley hold onto his starting place-kicker job this year as a senior, he’ll actually be set for the next five years including this year.

That’s because Cimaglia will then be able to redshirt.

Here’s a look at his highlight reel.

As you can see, he is already good at kicking the ball out of the back of the end zone on kickoffs. He also is great on long field goals.

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And his hang time on punts is amazing. So he should only improve as time goes on, and he could be an elite punter for Tennessee football. With Paxton Brooks, it looks like Butch Jones and the Vols truly did find their future punter.