Tennessee football: Five needs for Vols to address in 2021 recruiting class

4. Edge rusher

The loss of Darrell Taylor was offset with the loss of four edge rushers added into his class. Three were listed as defensive ends in Tyler Baron, Morven Joseph and Reginald Perry. Baron and Joseph are four-star recruits on Rivals. Four-star outside linebacker Tamarion McDonald is the fourth guy who fits this profile. As a result, Jeremy Pruitt did a good job here.

However, Tennessee football has three edge rusher spots. One player lines up at defensive end, and the other two play outside linebacker. As of right now, the Vols have five guys in that rotation heading into this year who will all be seniors: Deandre Johnson, Jordan Allen, Matthew Butler, Ja’Quain Blakely and LaTrell Bumphus.

Beyond that, only Kivon Bennett, Roman Harrison and John Mincey are set to help fill those roles for 2021. That means Pruitt will only be able to go two-deep with scholarship players in that rotation for right now. He spoke last year about not having enough guys in that rotation, and as a result, he needs to recruit more of them to be able to go three-deep by 2021.

Of course, guys like Quavaris Crouch could play the outside linebacker position. However, Pruitt and Derrick Ansley would likely prefer that he play on the inside to build depth with JJ Peterson, Henry To’o To’o and Solon Page III along with multiple new commits from this most recent class. So he needs clear help on the outside, and that’s where he should put his focus.