All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football recruiting: 3-star Jalil Clemons flips from Vols to Memphis

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the outside of Neyland Stadium before a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the outside of Neyland Stadium before a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Tennessee football suffered a decommitment on the first day of the Early Signing Period as three-star 2019 edge rusher Jalil Clemons flipped to the Tigers.

After some good news Wednesday morning involving a surprise commitment from a three-star wide receiver, Tennessee football suffered a bit of bad news Wednesday afternoon. The Vols lost out on Jalil Clemons.

A three-star defensive end from Starkville, Miss. the 6’3″ 240-pound prospect out of Starkville High School flipped his commitment from the Vols to the Memphis Tigers. Head coach Mike Norvell touted the commitment on Twitter.

Ranked a Top 50 edge rusher and a Top 20 player in the state of Mississippi, Clemons had been committed to Tennessee football since the summer. However, his decommitment is not horrible news for the Vols, who were back down to 20 total commitments for 2019 by the end of the day with 17 having signed.

Clemons was never really a top prospect as an edge rusher, and the commitments of Lakia Henry and Roman Harrison still give Jeremy Pruitt a bit to work with here. On top of that, Darrell Taylor and Deandre Johnson are both coming back, so this isn’t a huge loss.

However, shoring up depth is a focus for the Vols right now, and Clemons could have done that. So it’s not all celebration either. And given the growing intensity of the Tennessee-Memphis rivalry related to basketball, losing a recruit to them in football can be painful given the state of the two programs at this moment.

Remember, Clemons is among the highest-rated signees for Memphis’s recruiting class, and depending on the service you go by, he’s the top signee. So it is safe to say he’s a loss. But there are still plenty of top prospects out there and more important positions to shore up, so while this was a bit of bad news in the Early Signing Period, it’s no cause for panic.

Home/Vols Football