Tennessee football: 5 bold predictions for Vols National Signing Day 2019
3. The Vols will miss out on both inside linebacker targets.
This is going to be the most brutal part of the day. Tennessee football is looking to shore up numerous parts of its roster for depth purposes, and inside linebacker is one of those key positions for Jeremy Pruitt and co.
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The Vols lost Quart’e Sapp, and Darrin Kirkland Jr. and Daniel Bituli are both seniors. That leaves the future of the position up to Will Ignont, Shanon Reid and JJ Peterson right now. Pruitt and Kevin Sherrer need immediate help there.
However, they suffered a huge hit with the decommitment of four-star linebacker Lakia Henry. Henry would’ve brought talent, depth and experience to the team as a JuCo transfer. Four-star Athlete Quavaris Crouch offset that, but they Vols still desperately need more. And unfortunately for them, they won’t get anything else.
Their top target is four-star linebacker Henry To’oto’o out of Northern California. UT was in great standing with him until the weekend. However, the Alabama Crimson Tide have made a last-minute surge, and they are going to land him now.
Chris Russell out of Dyersburg, a three-star, is their other target. He probably would have committed, but Pruitt got in the game late as this recruitment was only to try to offset the loss of Henry. As a result, he won’t commit to the Vols either. That means Pruitt will have a ton of work to do to shore up the position next year, but for now, it’s a loss. At least they have depth this year.