Tennessee football in top six for four-star Texas DE Landyn Watson
Recruiting edge rushers is a priority for Tennessee football. Jeremy Pruitt got the Volunteers in the top six for a four-star 2021 weakside defensive end.
Jeremy Pruitt is clearly not resting on his recruiting success, even after Tennessee football secured a wave of commitments from elite front seven players over the past month. He’s now trending for another Texas prospect.
The Vols made the top six for Landyn Watson, a four-star 2021 weakside defensive end on Rivals. Watson hails from Hutto High School in Hutto, Texas, which is just outside of Austin. He is ranked the No. 51 player in the state of Texas and the No. 19 player nationally at his position.
In addition to Tennessee football, the Arizona State Sun Devils, TCU Horned Frogs, Virginia Tech Hokies, Cal Golden Bears and Arkansas Razorbacks all made the cut. Watson announced his list Wednesday evening on Twitter.
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At 6’3″ 230 pounds, Watson already has great size to be an edge rusher in Pruitt’s 3-4 scheme. His list came up just a few hours after three-star edge rusher Terrance Butler out of St. Frances Academy in Baltimore listed the Vols in his top six.
Either player would be a great addition for Pruitt to build up depth there, but Watson would obviously do more to boost the class given his ratings. With Darrell Taylor gone and Deandre Johnson reaching his senior year, Pruitt clearly needs help at this position.
Four-star weakside defense end Dylan Brooks out of Alabama is the only edge rusher currently committed in this class. If you count outside linebackers, Pruitt did get four-star Tamarion McDonald in the 2020 class, and he also got two more weakside defensive ends in four-stars Roman Harrison and Morven Joseph in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
However, he has lamented the lack of depth at that position for years, so he is clearly doing everything he can to load up there for the future. A commitment from Watson would go a long way towards helping that.
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Currently, Virginia Tech is the favorite to land Watson on the Rivals Future Cast, but it’s only by a plurality. They are a favorite by a majority on the 247Sports Crystal Ball, though. The Texas Tech Red Radiers are the favorite by a plurality on the Rivals Fan Future Cast, and they didn’t even make his cut. So Tennessee football could definitely make a push for this guy. He’d be a huge pickup.