Tennessee football: Elite 2023 in-state edge rusher Caleb Herring commits to Vols

In 2021, Elijah Herring became the first commitment for the 2022 Tennessee football recruiting class, which would be Josh Heupel’s first full class. One year later, Herring’s brother is now the most highly touted in-state player to sign with Heupel.

Edge rusher Caleb Herring out of Murfreesboro, Tenn., has committed to Rocky Top. A four-star across the board, Herring is listed as an outside linebacker on Rivals and ESPN and an edge on 247Sports and On3.

Coming out of Rutherford County’s Riverdale High School, Herring stands between 6’4″ and 6’6″ and weighs in the range of 205 to 210 pounds. He announced his commitment to Tennessee football Tuesday at noon on Twitter.

Herring is the second-highest composite rated player in UT’s 2023 class, behind quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who committed in March. He has been one of the top targets for Heupel and his staff, so landing him is a huge deal.

Byron Young, Roman Harrison and Tyler Baron will all be gone by 2024, and it seems as if he was recruited to fill the void that will be left by them. However, given his frame, he’ll have to put on some weight to truly play that role.

If not, it’s always possible he moves over to linebacker. After all, Elijah Herring plays linebacker, and since he’s listed in that position on two of the services, it’s not crazy to think that’s where the coaches will put him. Here is a look at his highlight reel.

As you can see, Herring gets by blockers on power alone a lot of the time. However, he has shown he is good at tackling in open space and reading where the ball is going, so there is a lot to like already about his instincts.

With his commitment, Tennessee football now has eight guys for 2023, and five of them are in-state recruits. That’s a big deal and a huge boost over where they were last year, so Heupel clearly has the momentum going on Rocky Top.