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Tennessee football makes cut for elite 2022 North Carolina WR Shaleak Knotts

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 29, 2011 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 29, 2011 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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As momentum continues to build for Tennessee football on the recruiting trail, the Vols are making the short lists for more and more elite targets. On Thursday they made another cut, this time for a 2022 target out of North Carolina.

UT is in the top three for wide receiver Shaleak Knotts. A four-star across the board out of Monroe High School in Monroe, N.C., Knotts stands in the 6’1″ to 6’2″ range and weighs in the range of 175 to 190 pounds.

Joining Tennessee football on Knotts’ list are the Maryland Terrapins and his home state school, the UNC Tar Heels. The Union County prospect, who visited Rocky Top the weekend of June 18, announced all three of them with a video on Twitter.

With the recent departure of Malachi Wideman, receiver has become a bit more of a priority for Josh Heupel. The Vols made the cut for Knotts one day after making the cut for elite 2023 wide receiver Carnell Tate.

There is still plenty of young talent, including rising stars Jalin Hyatt, Ramel Keyton and Cedric Tillman to go along with numerous other players on the roster, but Velus Jones Jr. is expected to be the go-to guy this year, and he’s a senior. As a result, the Vols definitely need more help.

Given the fact that Heupel’s offense relies on tempo and rotating lots of players in and out, he’s going to need lots of receivers as well. Still, his offense should be appealing to top-notch prospects in the passing game, and that could give him an advantage with Knotts.

Luring Knotts away from his home state may be difficult with Mack Brown running things in Chapel Hill, but with the Terps also in the picture, he seems to be looking into lots of different places. Also, if you take out the hometown aspect, he’s looking for spread offenses with Mike Locksley and Heupel, so that could give UT an advantage over UNC.

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Currently, UMD is the favorite to land him on the 247Sports Crystal Ball with only one prediction that had a high confidence meter. There are no predictions on the Rivals Future Cast, and UNC is the favorite by a plurality on the Rivals Fan Future Cast. Simply put, Tennessee football is in play for this guy, and the Vols could definitely use him for the future.

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