Tennessee football: 5 reasons Vols are fine without top 10 recruiting class

3. Circumstances limited the star rating of some of UT’s recruits.

What would you say if you saw the same Tennessee football class of 23 commitments and one confirmed five-star across all the recruiting services, but there were actually three five-stars and the best player in the nation in the class? Such was the case with the Vols.

Quavaris Crouch, the four-star athlete who could play running back or linebacker and will likely play linebacker, was the No. 1 ranked player across numerous services heading into last season. However, a nagging injury from his junior year limited his senior year play and hurt his stock.

But Crouch is supposed to be fully healthy heading into next year. So, in reality, the Vols clearly got a steal with him. The same holds true for Wanya Morris, a guy who should be a five-star and is across many services.

Morris was a four-star and then became a five-star, but Rivals demoted him back to a four-star. However, it’s clear that he has five-star potential. As a result, he is as big of a get for the offensive line as Darnell Wright was on National Signing Day.

Then you have Aaron Beasley. An athlete likely to play safety, Beasley focused on playing baseball in the spring, unable to boost his star rating. So he’s a three-star recruit with four-star talent if you look how hard of a hitter he is and how athletic he is. Anybody who looks at his highlight reel would automatically say he has unlimited potential.

Potential is where these star ratings come from. Simply put, Pruitt got lots of underrated players in this class, and there are specific things holding back the star ratings. Had those things not existed, this would indeed be a top 10 class.