Tennessee football: Top five 2021 signees who could play early

Thanks to almost everybody signing back in December before Jeremy Pruitt’s firing, Tennessee football was able to maintain a top 20 recruiting class across all services’ rankings and a top six class in the SEC. That gives Josh Heupel something to work with his first year on Rocky Top.

With a new head coach, it’s likely that numerous freshmen will see early action as well. In this post, we’ll rank signees in the Vols’ 2021 recruiting class who are in the best position to make an early impact. Our rankings will be based on the rating of the player himself and the needs at the position he plays. Graduations and numerous transfers obviously leave plenty of positions open.

This list will not include junior college transfers. We’ll have a separate post about that later. However, there are plenty of freshmen in this class who could make an impact. Let’s break down those players now. These are the top five freshman signees in Tennessee football’s 2021 recruiting class who could make an early impact.

Pearl-Cohn High School

There were four offensive lineman in the Vols’ 2021 recruiting class. However, at the same time, four offensive linemen left the program. Trey Smith is graduating and leaving for the NFL Draft. Wanya Morris, Jarious Abercrombie and Jahmir Johnson have all transferred to other schools.

That leaves numerous openings for offensive linemen to see playing time early. Although there is a junior college transfer who committed to Josh Heupel directly at this position, William Griffin-Parker is by far the standout blocker.

The 6’5″ 310-330 in-state prospect is the only lineman in the class with a four-star rating across any service. Although he is only a four-star on ESPN and still a three-star on Rivals and 247Sports, that’s enough for us to say he is the offensive lineman most likely to play for Tennessee football this year.