Tennessee football releasing KaTron Evans suggests 2021 class is cursed

If you fire your head coach over an NCAA investigation into serious recruiting violations, it’s safe to say you may not have the best of luck with top talent that signs with the coach. That’s what Tennessee football seems to be dealing with right now.

KaTron Evans became another elite prospect to add to the misfortune of the Vols’ 2021 class. UT released the defensive tackle, who was a four-star across all services, from his letter of intent, allowing him to reopen his recruitment over two months after National Signing Day.

Initially from Virginia before finishing up high school in Maryland, Evans committed to Tennessee football back in May of 2020. He stands somewhere between 6’4″ and 6’5″ while weighing in the range of 295 to 315 pounds and revealed Wednesday morning that he had been released.

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With Evans’ release, Rocky Top has now let go of three of the six players in its 2021 class who are top 200 players nationally on Rivals. Edge rusher Dylan Brooks and running back Cody Brown were the other two. All three are top 250 players on 247Sports and ESPN, with Brooks and Evans being top 200 players on both of those as well.

It gets worse for Josh Heupel’s program, though. Linebacker Aaron Willis and quarterback Kaidon Salter, both of whom are early enrollees and top 200 players on Rivals and 247Sports, are currently suspended indefinitely.

Taking all that into account, five of the six top 200 players committed to Tennessee football on Rivals and four of five on 247Sports are either suspended indefinitely or have been let out of their letter of intent. That also expands to five of the six top 250 players on 247Sports and four of the five top 250 players on Rivals. Most notably, it applies to five of the seven unanimous four-stars.

Simply put, it appears as if there is a black cat running around the 2021 recruiting class for the Vols. Nothing can go right for the future they tried to establish with elite prospects, and even the ones who stuck around after the firing of Jeremy Pruitt are running into issues.

Kaemen Marley is the only top 250 player across the board whose future on Rocky Top isn’t either done or in limbo yet. The good news for UT is Marley is one of their top prospects, as he is a top 200 player across the board.

Receiver Walker Merrill is the only other unanimous four-star, and there are no issues with him yet either. However, Merrill and Marley were not early enrollees. The two early enrollees who were elite prospects, Willis and Salter, have both been suspended. That only provides more evidence that there might be a curse.

You could also assume a curse with players out of St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, Md. given the fact that Evans graduated from there after transferring from Granby High School in Norfolk, Va. and the fact that Willis also went there. The Vols’ pipeline into that school, where current defensive lineman Dominic Bailey also went, appears to be fading.

Altogether, the losses are unsettling for Tennessee football. Heupel appeared lucky enough to finish National Signing Day with a top 15 class amidst all the chaos. These departures have dropped the class to outside of the top 25, and that’s with Salter and Willis still a part of that.

Of course, Evans’ departure isn’t a big deal for this year, but the Vols will have issues at defensive line in the future that he could have addressed. In the middle Aubrey Solomon and Darel Middleton are both seniors, and Greg Emerson and Kurrott Garland are both juniors. Matthew Butler, Ja’Quain Blakely and LaTrell Bumphus are all seniors on the edge as well.

Now, amidst all of this, we need to be clear that Evans shouldn’t be held accountable. He committed to play for Pruitt, and the situation in January probably made things difficult for him. You can never put that on the player. At some point, though, Tennessee football needs a break.