Tennessee football: Five key 2021 Vols who were three-stars or lower
839. Scouting Report. 3. Redshirt junior. Kurott Garland. player. Pick Analysis. Defensive lineman
6’3″ 310 pounds; Hometown: Conyers, Ga.
Back in 2019, Kurott Garland actually entered the transfer portal, and it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. Tennessee football’s future at defensive tackle was Greg Emerson, and guys like Darel Middleton, Aubrey Solomon and Savion Williams were all in the system while Jeremy Pruitt was recruiting well at the position for the future.
However, the graduate of Heritage High School in Georgia’s Rockdale County came back to the team and stayed the course. Midway through the year, he worked his way into a starting role. Since then, Emerson, Middleton and Williams have all transferred. Garland stayed.
Talk about overachieving. Every one of those other guys was a four-star or better. Garland was a three-star across the board. Over the past two years, he’s come away with three tackles for a loss and 40 tackles overall, 19 of which were solo.
If Tim Banks does as expected and switches back to four down linemen consistently, Garland has a chance to really make a name for himself. He’s now an anchor of the defensive tackles, and even with a deeper rotation, he and Solomon are the two focal points of this unit. That’s a huge leap from where he was.