All for Tennessee
Fansided

Ranking Tennessee football’s early enrollees for 2022 by potential impact

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee defensive lineman Tyre West participates in a drill during Tennessee football spring practice at University of Tennessee, Thursday, March 24, 2022.Volspractice0324 1166
Tennessee defensive lineman Tyre West participates in a drill during Tennessee football spring practice at University of Tennessee, Thursday, March 24, 2022.Volspractice0324 1166 /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 14
Next
Tennessee running back Justin Williams-Thomas (26) is seen at Tennessee Vols football first spring practice, Tuesday, March 22, 2022.Kns Vols Spring Parctice Cm
Tennessee running back Justin Williams-Thomas (26) is seen at Tennessee Vols football first spring practice, Tuesday, March 22, 2022.Kns Vols Spring Parctice Cm /

Running back. 10. 839. Pick Analysis. player. Scouting Report. Dallas, Ga.. Justin Williams-Thomas

6’0″ 210 pounds

Despite being a four-star on every service except 247Sports, where he was a three-star, Justin Williams-Thomas is going to a position where Tennessee football is loaded. The Vols return Jabari Small as their feature back, they return Jaylen Wright as their all-purpose back, and they return Len’Neth Whitehead as their power back.

There’s a reason Tee Hodge transferred last fall and Dee Beckwith followed suit in the offseason. Even Tiyon Evans, who was the Vols’ top back before battling injuries last year, hit the portal before the season ended as Small and Wright began to turn into a dynamic duo.

Still, Evans’ transfer is the main reason the graduate of East Paulding High School in Georgia is not even further down this list. Josh Heupel and Jerry Mack want to run a deep rotation at running back, and last year, they were certainly willing to use two feature backs in Small and Evans before Evans got banged up.

As a result, they may be looking for another feature back, and at that point, Williams-Thomas could immediately fill a void. Sure, all-purpose back Dylan Sampson will add more competition in the summer, but Williams-Thomas was higher-rated and arrived earlier. Watch out for the possibility of him having a surprise early impact.

Home/Vols Football