Tennessee football in top five for elite 2021 Miami DT

A Miami, Fla. defensive tackle put the Tennessee football Volunteers in his top five.

Jeremy Pruitt has been picking off recruits from the state of Florida at a pretty impressive rate over the past few weeks. Over the weekend, he may have gotten one step closer to doing it again for Tennessee football.

Defensive tackle Leonard Taylor announced that the Vols were in his top five. A four-star on Rivals and a five-star on 247Sports and the 247Sports Composite for 2021, Taylor comes out of Palmetto High School in Miami.

In addition to Tennessee football, Taylor is looking at the Miami Hurricanes and then three other SEC schools: the Florida Gators, Auburn Tigers and LSU Tigers. He announced his list Sunday afternoon on Twitter.

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There’s a wide range of ratings for Taylor, as he is the No. 12 ranked defensive tackle and No. 12 ranked player from the state of Florida on Rivals but is the top-ranked defensive tackle nationally and second-ranked player from Florida on 247Sports. He is also listed at 6’4″ 280 pounds on Rivals and 6’4″ 255 pounds on 247Sports.

Still, even at his worst ratings, Taylor still is listed as an elite lineman who would provide immediate value to the Vols. After all, Pruitt has no qualms about getting as many elite players as he possibly can to load up the line of scrimmage.

Currently, the Vols already have two defensive tackles committed in three-star Isaac Washington and four-star KaTron Evans. They also added four-stars Dominic Bailey and Omari Thomas in 2020. However, with Aubrey Solomon, Emmit Gooden and Darel Middleton set to be seniors this year, Pruitt clearly needs to build his depth there.

Florida is obviously a place for him to look. UT currently has four players from the state of Florida, three of whom are four-stars and two of whom are former Gator commitments. So the Vols are developing a pipeline right now that could help them with Taylor.

Currently, the Gators are a favorite by a majority on the Rivals Future Cast and Rivals Fan Future Cast to land him. They are a unanimous favorite on the 247Sports Crystal Ball. However, because of Tennessee football’s recent history picking off recruits from Dan Mullen, that may be good news for Pruitt. Getting into the top five is a first step.