Tennessee football adds in-state OL William Griffin-Parker to 2021 class

The Nashville, Tenn. offensive lineman joins the Tennessee football Volunteers.

Despite a top five recruiting class for 2021 already, Jeremy Pruitt was clearly not satisfied with the depth he had in the trenches there. As a result, for the second time in a week, Tennessee football added an in-state offensive lineman.

Rocky Top secured a commitment from offensive tackle William Griffin-Parker. Standing at 6’5″ and somewhere between 310 and 325 pounds, the three-star out of Pearl-Cohn High School in Nashville, Tenn. appeared to be down to the Vols and Alabama Crimson Tide.

Griffin-Parker announced that he chose Tennessee football in a video presentation where he picked up the Alabama hat first but then dropped it and put on the UT hat. CBS Sports posted his announcement on its Twitter account, and he confirmed his commitment on his own Twitter account Friday afternoon.

Because of his commitment, the Vols have three offensive linemen in their class. Griffin-Parker follows J’Marion Gooch, who committed to Pruitt’s program on Aug. 31 out of King’s Academy in Seymour, Tenn. and had flipped from the Auburn Tigers.

Joining Gooch and Griffin-Parker is North Carolina prospect Colby Smith. Another three-star, Smith comes out of Rockingham County High School in Wentworth, N.C. and was the first offensive lineman to commit to Rocky Top’s 2021 class.

UT was definitely in need of rebuilding its depth with three seniors on its offensive line, two of whom were certain to be full-time starters, assuming those players don’t take advantage of the NCAA extra year of eligibility recently allowed to athletes. Pruitt had brought in talented linemen to reload, but these three guys add more depth.

Similar to Gooch, Griffin-Parker plays both sides of the ball in high school. He has spent more time in the middle at defensive tackle, though, suggesting his style will be more about power and less about versatility. Here’s a look at his highlight reel.

As you can see, strength is clearly Griffin-Parker’s, well, strength. He overpowers opponents. He’ll need a bit of developing at the next level, though, because you can’t just run over people in the SEC. However, his size shows he’s got plenty of potential to be effective.

With Griffin-Parker’s commitment, Tennessee football’s top five ranked 2021 class now has 26 commitments and four in-state players. The Vols may not be done either. It’s pretty clear they are loading up on size and depth here.