Tennessee football makes cut for elite 2023 Missouri edge Chandavian Bradley

Although offensive skill players are the ones most likely to be attracted to Tennessee football with Josh Heupel as head coach, the success of guys like Byron Young last year should make the Vols intriguing to playmakers. Heupel now has them trending for such a prospect from where he used to coach in Missouri.

Weakside defensive end Chandavian Bradley has the Vols in his top 10. Coming out of Platte County High School in Platte City, Mo., which is just outside of Kansas City, Bradley is a five-star on 247Sports and a four-star everywhere else. He stands in the range of 6’5″ to 6’6″ and weighs in the range of 210 to 215 pounds.

Joining Tennessee football on Bradley’s list are the LSU Tigers, Texas A&M Aggies, Clemson Tigers, Auburn Tigers, Florida State Seminoles, Miami Hurricanes, Oregon Ducks, USC Trojans and Washington Huskies. He announced the schools Saturday afternoon on Twitter.

The Vols are currently loaded at edge rusher with Young, Tyler Baron and Roman Harrison. However, Tim Banks needs to get the position to be able to reload for his scheme to work right, as his nickel-based 4-3 relies heavily on the talents of the edge rushers. Depth is crucial there.

For multiple reasons, UT could be in great shape to land Bradley. First off, the Vols are the only state that borders his home state. Only Texas A&M is closer in proximity, but we’re talking a 20-minute difference in a 10 to 11-hour timeframe.

Meanwhile, Heupel actually has connections to Missouri after his two successful years as offensive coordinator there in 2016 and 2017. Bradley would have been in elementary and middle school then, so he likely remembers the program’s success. Simply put, there are lots of reasons to believe he’d choose UT.

Currently, there are no favorites to land Bradley on the Rivals Future Cast. Although the Rivals Fan Future Cast has the Kansas Jayhawks as the favorite by a plurality to land him, Kansas didn’t make the cut. The USC Trojans have the only prediction on the 247Sports Crystal Ball, but it’s only with a medium confidence interval.

Meanwhile, On3 has the Iowa State Cyclones and Kansas State Wildcats as tied for the favorites by a plurality and A&M, Kansas, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Arkansas Razorbacks, the Oklahoma Sooners, and the Wisconsin Badgers tied for third. Of those, only A&M made the cut, so Tennessee football could easily land this guy.