Tennessee football recruiting: Vols in top 2 for 4-star Georgia 2020 OL

Tennessee football is in the top two for four-star offensive lineman Tate Ratledge. The Rome, Ga. tackle will announce if he picks the Volunteers next week.

Jeremy Pruitt continues to go after top talent from the state of Georgia. Three of the six current commitments for the 2020 Tennessee football recruiting class are from that state, and nine of their 23 commitments in the 2019 class were from there.

Well, now things got a bit more intense. The Vols are now competing directly with the Georgia Bulldogs for one of their top 2020 prospects due to an announcement that was made Wednesday. And the winner will be revealed pretty soon.

Tate Ratledge, an offensive lineman for 2020 out of Darlington High School in Rome, announced on Twitter that the Dawgs and the Vols are his top two schools. He also set May 13 as his official announcement date.

A four-star on Rivals, Ratledge would be the second player in two years that Tennessee football picked up from the Rome. Three-star 2019 tight end commitment Sean Brown came from Coosa High School in Rome.

At 6’5″ 295 pounds, Ratledge is the No. 5 ranked player nationally at his position and the No. 5 ranked player throughout the state of Georgia. He would be the second offensive line to commit to the Vols in 2020, following two-star in-state prospect Will Albright.

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Right now most forecasts have him staying home to play with Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs. However, Tennessee football has a couple of great things working for it to try to get the steal, including Pruitt’s connections to Georgia and the fact that the Vols just lured offensive coordinator Jim Chaney away from there. Chaney specializing in linemen helps make UT more attractive.

After a historically great offensive line class in 2019, the Vols and Pruitt are still going to want to continue to reload. It is true that you can never have enough depth on your line, and the poor play of the unit in 2018 means that the need is desperate to continue to upgrade. That makes Ratledge a crucial prospect.

Given the fact that back in 2018 the Vols lost Cade Mays as a commitment to the Bulldogs, a legacy player from within the state of Tennessee, stealing away Ratledge would be a hug plus for them. It wouldn’t be complete revenge, but it would be something for Rocky Top.

Rusty Mansell of 247Sports reported that Ratledge will announce where he’s going on Fox5 Atlanta during their Good Day Atlanta show in the 9 a.m. hour Monday. Should he commit, he’ll be the third four-star in the 2020 Tennessee football recruiting class, coming on the heels of defensive tackle Dominic Bailey and quarterback Harrison Bailey.