Tennessee football: When is too early to offer a player a scholarship?

Jeremy Pruitt out and about offering every player he wants. Oh, and it doesn’t matter how old they are. If he wants them, they get an offer.

Let me start off by saying I get it. Pruitt wants to get Tennessee football back to where it belongs which is at the top of the SEC. Back in the late 80’s and 90’s, it seemed like Tennessee got any recruit that they wanted.

So far, Pruitt is offering and getting most of the recruits that he wants for his football program. Many fans, was worried early on about Pruitt’s recruiting and now well, all I’m hearing is crickets.

The latest on the list of receiving an offer from Tennessee is the 6-foot-7, 370-pound offensive linemen Kiyaunta Goodwin. What is crazy about this particular offer is Goodwin hasn’t played a snap of high school football. He probably hasn’t even registered for classes yet. He just finished middle school.

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However, Tennessee isn’t the only big-time college to give him an offer. In fact, Kentucky was his first offer before Goodwin had even started eighth grade.

This is pretty insane. What is the benefit of offering a kid in middle school? How many kids go to the first school that offered them a scholarship?

I get it, offer on the size of the player and be one of the first teams to build a lasting relationship.

And, maybe I am wrong. Maybe it doesn’t matter at all. But, four years is such a long time away, the kid will probably flip-flop back and forth 20 times.

Goodwin isn’t the only recruit in the 2022 class that Jeremy Pruitt and the Vols have offered. There are two quarterbacks, an offensive tackle, and an athlete.

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Maybe in four years, the relationship the staff can build outweighs the silliness of offering kids in middle school. However, I still think that’s too early. But, who cares as long as they come to Tennessee, right?

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