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Tennessee football makes cut for elite 2021 South Carolina DL Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins

ByCaleb Calhoun|
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - OCTOBER 05: A Tennessee Volunteers megaphone sits on the sideline during the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - OCTOBER 05: A Tennessee Volunteers megaphone sits on the sideline during the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images)

Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins of Gaffney, S.C. has the Tennessee football Volunteers in his top four.

If there’s one are Tennessee football needs to continue loading up as much as possible for 2021, it’s defensive line. After all, the Vols’ six-man rotation this year will consist of four seniors, and there are two more even behind that.

Well, Rocky Top got one step closer to adding another player on that front Wednesday by making the top four for elite 2021 South Carolina defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins. A four-star on both Rivals and 247Sports, Ingram-Dawkins is listed at either 6’5″ or 6’6″ on both services and between 295 and 300 pounds. He’s either a strongside defensive end or defensive tackle.

Regardless, though, the product of Gaffney High School in Gaffney, S.C. is clearly going to play on the line. In addition to Tennessee football, the South Carolina Gamecocks, Georgia Bulldogs and North Carolina Tar Heels made his list. He announced his schools on Twitter.

Back in May, UT had made Ingram-Dawkins’ top six. This list cut out the Penn State Nittany Lions and Florida State Seminoles, which would have been two extremely difficult schools for the Vols to fight off. They are now the only school in contention not from his home state or a bordering state.

Given the way Jeremy Pruitt has been using his defensive linemen in his 3-4 schemes, he has had guys the size of defensive tackles often line up at end. Aubrey Solomon did that consistently last year, playing opposite Matthew Butler when Derrick Ansley ran his 4-2-5 nickel package.

With the additions of Elijah Simmons in 2019, four-stars Dominic Bailey and Omari Thomas in 2020, and four-star KaTron Evans and three-star Isaac Washington in 2021, the Vols have made sure to offset the coming losses up front as best they can. Greg Emerson, Kurrott Garland and Kingston Harris only being sophomores helps.

However, there’s clearly more work to do, and Ingram-Dawkins could be a big help up front. Fighting off South Carolina will be tough, though. Will Muschamp’s program is a majority favorite on the Rivals Future Cast and 247Sports Crystal Ball to land him and a plurality favorite on the Rivals Fan Future Cast. But it’s not unanimous, so Tennessee football has a shot.

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