Evaluating Tennessee football’s 2021 DT class at dead period

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 29, 2011 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 29, 2011 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
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Tennessee football
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Commitments

KaTron Evans

  • Ratings: Four-star (Unanimous)
  • Size: 6’4″ 320 pounds
  • Hometown: Baltimore, Md.
  • High School: St. Frances Academy

In its 2020 recruiting class, Tennessee football secured a commitment from Dominic Bailey, who is a four-star defensive tackle from St. Frances Academy in Baltimore. Now, KaTron Evans, who committed to the Vols back in early May, has helped Bailey begin a domino effect of people from this school committing to Jeremy Pruitt and Rocky Top.

Evans is the No. 11 ranked defensive tackle on Rivals and the No. 109 ranked player overall. He already brings immediately great size to the program. Keeping a pipeline for the Vols into the DMV is a big deal alone, but Evans is clearly somebody who will be able to provide immediate depth at defensive tackle and become an elite player in the future.

Isaac Washington

  • Ratings: Three-star (Unanimous)
  • Size: 6’3″ 268 pounds
  • Hometown: Pilot Mountain, N.C.
  • High School: East Surry

After committing to the Vols and then decommitting, Isaac Washington reaffirmed his commitment back in March. Washington keeps a necessary pipeline from the state of North Carolina heading into Rocky Top, and a guy like Jay Graham is likely to strengthen those bonds in the future. Pruitt is clearly focusing on that.

As far as talent, Washington clearly needs to add size given his frame. Currently, he looks more like an outside edge rusher or a guy who plays the sole defensive end spot on the line. However, Pruitt and his conditioning team have been very good at adding on weight to such players, and they will likely focus on that with Washington. He is just a major project.