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Evaluating Tennessee football’s 2020 recruiting class at dead period: Vols Linebackers

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the inside of Neyland Stadium during 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 inside of Neyland Stadium during a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images) /
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Top prospects for Vols at ILB

Bryson Eason; 4-star

6’2″ 230 lbs; Memphis, Tenn.; Whitehaven High School

If you’re Tennessee football, you don’t let elite in-state linebackers leave. The Vols have a pipeline into Whitehaven in Memphis, and Bryson Eason could add to that. A four-star on Rivals, his 6’2″ 230-pound size makes him a great pickup for UT, and he’s already a top 200 player nationally, the No. 8 ranked player at his position and the No. 7 ranked player in the state.

Rocky Top is competing with the Arkansas Razorbacks, Florida Gators, LSU Tigers and Mississippi State Bulldogs to land him. Unfortunately for them, the Hogs are the unanimous Rivals FutureCast favorites to land him, while the 247Sports Crystal Ball has them competing with the Ole Miss Rebels and Oklahoma Sooners, even if those schools didn’t make the official cut. UT is only the favorite on the FanFutureCast by a plurality, so they have serious work to do.

Len’Neth Whitehead; 3-star

6’2″ 232 lbs; Athens, Ga.; Athens Academy High School

Jeremy Pruitt continues to work on that Georgia pipeline, and Len’Neth Whitehead is a specific pipeline since he’s directly from Athens. The Vols would get a coup with him, as he is another guy with great size at 6’3″ 232 pounds. Despite being a three-star on Rivals, he’s a 247Sports Composite four-star, and Rivals still has him as a top 20 inside linebacker.

However, the Vols have major work to get him. Whitehead appears to be down to them and the Georgia Bulldogs, but UGA is the unanimous favorite on the Rivals FutureCast and the 247Sports Crystal Ball while being the majority favorite on the FanFutureCast. So it’ll be hard for Pruitt to get him out of Athens.

Allen Merrick; 3-star

6’2″ 233 lbs; Gadsden, Ala.; Gadsden City High School

The three Tennessee football top prospects at inside linebacker are from their three major pipeline states. They are targeting an in-state guy, a Georgia guy, and an Alabama guy. Allen Merrick is an Alabama guy, and coming from Gadsden, he’s from right near where Jeremy Pruitt grew up. A three-star on Rivals, Merrick is another guy with good size at 6’2″ 233 pounds.

As a top 30 inside linebacker on Rivals, he appears down to the Vols and South Carolina Gamecocks. There are no 247Sports or FutureCast predictions, but the Rivals FanFutureCast has S.C. as the favorite by a plurality. So, again, Rocky Top needs to make a push.

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