Is Tennessee football hit with unlucky timing for Junior Day by Titans?

It’s a big weekend for Tennessee football. Early enrollees made headlines by moving in. Just as that is happening, Josh Heupel also has a huge weekend of recruiting for 2023, and he’s hosting a ton of top prospects in the process as part of Junior Day.

Presumably, many of the prospects will be taken to Tennessee basketball’s Saturday evening matchup with the LSU Tigers. It’s a huge top 25 matchup that you would think could sweep up many of these prospects and make them want to head to Rocky Top.

However, in the unluckiest timing possible for Tennessee football, the Tennessee Titans happened to have their first NFL Playoff game scheduled against the Cincinnati Bengals at 4:30 p.m. With tipoff for the game at 6 p.m., you have to question how full Thompson-Boling Arena will be.

There’s a strong chance that the stadium will look empty, at least for the first half, and you have to wonder just how full it will be in the second half. After all, while some students and fans may want to catch the second half, there will inevitably others who would have gone but decided not to go at all because of the inconvenience.

This bad timing is clearly nobody’s fault. Anybody who lives in Tennessee and is a fan of both teams would naturally choose to watch the Titans, as their game is much bigger. However, it’s unfortunate that the dates have to line up like this.

Numerous stars are on campus for Junior Day, including wide receiver Carnell Tate, pro-style quarterback Christopher Vizzina, tight end Ethan Davis and offensive tackle Brycen Sanders.  All four players are four-stars or better across all services.

Other players who are four-stars on at least one of the services among Rivals, 247Sports, ESPN and On3 are also on campus. They include offensive guard Paris Patterson Jr.  (Rivals), athlete Max Carroll (Rivals), cornerback Ethan Nation (all but On3), and wide receiver Devin Hyatt (all but On3), the brother of current UT wide receiver Jalin Hyatt.

Given how big of an offseason visit day it is for Tennessee football, there’s no way to think this Titans game won’t work against them. Thompson-Boling Arena at full capacity is a huge selling point, as the Vols have one of the best basketball fan bases in the SEC.

One way this could work out for everybody, though, is if the Titans actually win, and their fans celebrate out in Knoxville that night. Such an atmosphere could be another way to sweep up recruits and make up for what could be an underwhelming showing at the basketball game.

The LSU game being on ESPN won’t be enough to salvage this one. Heupel and co. have to find other ways to sell Tennessee football to these recruits. You could say that if a low turnout at a basketball game keeps these kids away then they wouldn’t be picking UT for the right reasons anyway, but it still works against the Vols.