Tennessee football: In-state LB Elijah Herring Vols first 2022 commitment

It took longer than usual, but Tennessee football finally has its first commitment for 2022 with Josh Heupel at the helm. The Vols picked up a player at a position of major need going forward from the middle of the state.

Linebacker Elijah Herring, a three-star on Rivals and 247Sports out of Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro, Tenn., committed to UT Wednesday afternoon. Herring stands at 6’2″ and weighs in the range of 220 to 225 pounds.

Herring’s commitment comes nearly three months after New York defensive end Jimmy Scott, who committed to Jeremy Pruitt’s Vols in August of last year and was Rocky Top’s only 2022 commitment for a while, decommitted after Pruitt was fired. Tennessee football’s newest commitment announced his decision on Twitter.

With Quavaris Crouch, Henry To’o To’o and J.J. Peterson still in the transfer portal, the Vols clearly have a lot of work to do at linebacker, even with young guys like Aaron Willis, Bryson Eason and Martavius French bringing potential to the program. Given his size, Herring is a great pickup to help with that.

According to Ryan Callahan of GoVols247, Herring is initially from Georgia and moved to the state when he was in the eighth grade. New linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary has been the primary guy recruiting him, but the program has been targeting him since June of 2019, dating back to the previous staff.

Callahan reports that Herring has played a lot of edge rusher in high school but could play a bit of a hybrid role between that and standard linebacker at the college level. Tim Banks’ 4-3 based schemes that rely heavily on nickel packages could call for him to be a bit more versatile. Here is a look at his highlight reel.

As you can see, Herring has a unique ability to get into the backfield, and he can do it off the edge or up the middle. That combined with his size gives him SEC potential. However, his speed and athleticism are questions that will likely have to be answered.

There are likely other, more elite targets Heupel will pursue, even at linebacker and in the state, going forward. However, Herring is a very good first pickup for Tennessee football. He brings potential and helps to fill a key void. You can’t ask for much more.