Tennessee football recruiting: Vols make the cut for two 2020 offensive linemen
Tennessee football recruiting got good news in the trenches Wednesday. The Volunteers made the cut for offensive linemen Joshua Jones and Sedrick Van Pran.
After closing out the 2019 recruiting class with a historically great group of offensive linemen, Tennessee football is looking ahead to continue to beef up the trenches. And Jeremy Pruitt got some encouraging news on that front Wednesday.
The Vols made the cut for two 2020 offensive linemen, and they could be the favorite to land one of them. The first was Alabama offensive tackle Joshua Jones, and the second was Louisiana offensive guard Sedrick Van Pran.
Jones trimmed his list down to six schools, and one of them was Tennessee football. Chad Simmons of Rivals announced who made the cut to his six schools, which also included the N.C. State Wolfpack, the Mississippi State Bulldogs, the Kentucky Wildcats, the LSU Tigers and the Florida State Seminoles.
NEW: Alabama OL Joshua Jones has a top six of #FSU #LSU #Kentucky #HailState #NCState and #Vols. Could this list be trimmed again soon? Who's recruiting him the hardest? He is eyeing a decision sooner than later as well.
— ChadSimmons (@ChadSimmons_) May 22, 2019
Get the latest here: https://t.co/Bj1BFeTTzn pic.twitter.com/tj25KYXRKh
Top 10 recruiting prospects for Vols to pursue in 2020. light. Related Story
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A three-star on Rivals, Jones hails from Central High School in Phoenix City, Ala. That’s on the Eastern border of the state, right at the Alabama-Georgia line, and only 45 minutes from Auburn. He stands at 6’6″ 298 pounds and can double as a center.
Jeremy Pruitt’s and Tee Martin’s connections into both states, Alabama and Georgia, along with Derrick Ansley’s connections to Alabama and Jim Chaney’s connections to Georgia put the Vols in great shape to land Jones. And right now, with few predictions coming in, UT is the favorite to land him on the Rivals FutureFanCast.
Shortly after the Vols made the cut for Jones’s top 6, though, Van Pran, the more coveted offensive lineman trimmed his list. He put Tennessee football in his top 8 along with the LSU Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, Missouri Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas A&M Aggies and Alabama Crimson Tide. He announced his top 8 with a video on Twitter.
First Off #Top8 pic.twitter.com/SjEG5NbZQk
— Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (@SedrickVanPran) May 22, 2019
As a four-star guard on Rivals, Van Pran hails from Warren Easton Senior in New Orleans. At 6’4″ 285 pounds, he is ranked a top 150 player nationally, a top 10 player in the state of Louisiana and the No. 3 player nationally at his position. Van Pran can also play center, and in some cases he lines up at defensive tackle.
The fight to get him will be much more difficult, and there are no legitimate predictions out there yet as to where he’s trending. However, he would be a huge pickup for the Vols as well, so them making the cut with other schools of such elite prestige has to count for something.
Next. Projecting the Vols' 2-deep 2019 depth chart. dark
If Pruitt can continue the momentum he’s had in the trenches over the past year, don’t discount his ability to land both recruits. The guy has been building a recruiting giant across the South that could only begin to look better if the program improves. Tennessee football is at least on the right track off the field at this moment. Maybe this year they can translate it to on the field.