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Tennessee football: Vols in top five for four-star 2021 Ohio DE

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: The Tennessee Volunteers run onto the field before the start of their game against the South Carolina Gamecocks on October 29, 2005 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: The Tennessee Volunteers run onto the field before the start of their game against the South Carolina Gamecocks on October 29, 2005 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Another edge rusher is looking hard at Tennessee football. The Volunteers made the cut for strongside defensive end Najee Story of Solon, Ohio.

After making the cut for two three-star defensive ends from Alabama within a span of 24 hours, Tennessee football made the cut for a four-star defensive end within that same time frame. This time, they made the cut for a more highly touted prospect, and his list was trimmed smaller.

Najee Story, a four-star edge rusher on Rivals who hails from Solon High School in Solon, Ohio, put the Vols in his top five Monday night. At 6’3″ 230 pounds, Story is ranked a top 200 player overall, the No. 195 player nationally, the No. 15 player at his position and the No. 8 player within the state of Ohio.

In addition to Tennessee football, other schools in Story’s top five included the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Northwestern Wildcats, Penn State Nittany Lions and Ohio State Buckeyes. He announced his list on Twitter.

Related Story. Top 15 prospects for Vols to pursue in 2021. light

What’s pretty clear about this list is the fact that Story favors Big Ten schools. Given the fact that Solon is on the north end of the state, in a suburban county just southwest of Cleveland, that makes sense.

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However, that could mean one of two things for the Vols. On a positive note for Jeremy Pruitt’s program, there must be something that he specifically is able to sell to make UT the only non-Big Ten school of interest to him. Still, it could also mean that they have a much harder sell to get him out of the region.

Then there is the actual data. The Rivals Future Cast has Ohio State as a unanimous favorite to land him, and the Fan Future Cast has the Buckeyes as a majority favorite. On the other hand, the 247Sports Crystal Ball has them as the favorite only by a plurality, so it appears there just haven’t been enough forecasts on him yet.

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Still, it looks like Tennessee football will have to fend off Story’s home state school to land him. If Pruitt can do that, he will have pulled off a major accomplishment. The Vols have pulled some great talent from Ohio in the past, most notably Peerless Price. Could Story be another one? They got a bit closer to that being a possibility on Monday.

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