Tennessee football in top six for four-star 2021 OL

Montvale, N.J. offensive lineman Geno VanDeMark is eyeing the Tennessee football Volunteers.

With Jarrett Guarantano entering his fifth-year senior season as the likely starting quarterback for Tennessee football, Jeremy Pruitt obviously already has a connection to the state of New Jersey. It looks like he’s trying to expand on it as well.

Geno VanDeMark, an offensive lineman from the Garden State, recently included the Vols in his top six. A four-star on Rivals who stands at 6’5″ 305 pounds, VanDeMark comes out of St. Joseph’s High School in Montvale, N.J., which is in the northeastern portion of the state and just outside of New York City.

In addition to Tennessee football, VanDeMark had the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Michigan State Spartans, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Ole Miss Rebels and Arizona State Sun Devils on his list. He announced the schools on Twitter.

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As of right now, offensive line is a serious position of need in the Vols’ No. 2 ranked recruiting class for 2021. They currently only have one commitment there, three-star Colby Smith of Wentworth, N.C. VanDeMark, who is a top 160 player nationally and top 20 player at his position, would be a great pickup. He is also the No. 5 ranked player in the state of New Jersey.

Sure, Pruitt did a great job loading up on the offensive line over the past two recruiting classes. However, he has six seniors who will be in the rotation this year, four of whom are sure to start, and there are three other players who will be juniors, assuming Cade Mays receives an eligibility waiver this year.

Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright could also leave after 2021 given how much promise they showed this past year as freshmen. Simply put, Pruitt’s entire two-deep offensive line rotation this year could be gone pretty quickly.

That makes adding guys like VanDeMark crucial. We all remember the year Derek Dooley didn’t sign any offensive linemen in 2012, and while his explanation made sense, Butch Jones did pay for that in 2014.

Securing VanDeMark will be tough, though, as Rutgers is a unanimous favorite to land him on the Rivals Future Cast and on the 247Sports Crystal Ball. The Scarlet Knights are a majority favorite to land him on the Rivals Fan Future Cast. Simply put, Tennessee football has work to do to make more gains with him, but he is being recruited by Joe Osovet, who has connections to the area.