Early Enrollees 2020

Harrison Bailey
Dominic Bailey
Cooper Mays
Jimmy Holiday

Targets

Jimmy Holiday
Darnell Washington

The Remarkable Emergence of Nigel Warrior

Nigel Warrior, up to this year, was a cautionary tale about overhyping recruiting prospects. Expected to be the next best thing to his father, Dale Carter, it was probably more than any recruit could be expected to live up to. Until his senior season, Warrior had been a very pedestrian player. Good enough to not be taken off the field as a starter, but not particularly spectacular in any one area. Many times last season he found himself in the right place but unable to complete the play.

This season a light has come on for Warrior. His play the second half of the schedule has been All-SEC worthy. He leads the league in picks, tied with 3 others. He had 10 tackles vs. Georgia which seemed to be his coming-out party and two passes defended. He had a pick and 2 passes defended against Mississippi State in a win and set up a Tennessee touchdown at Bama with a pick in a game that should not have been as close as it was. Then he racked up 8 tackles against Kentucky with another interception.

Since Tennessee's first bye week, Nigel has had 44 tackles, 3 interceptions and 4 passes defended. He has transformed himself, under the tutelage of Jeremy Pruitt and Derrick Ansley, into an all-around defensive back. He holds up in coverage, he can come down into the box and cover the run, his ball skills are excellent. It was Nigel's decision to cover both Lynn Bowden initially and then the pitchman on the option that allowed Ja'Quain Blakely to tackle the QB at the line of scrimmage, virtually sealing the win for the Vols on a goal-line stand in Lexington.

Not only has his play on the field done the talking, but he has also backed up that play in the locker room as a leader which was crucial during the initial stretch of the season when Tennessee disappointed with a 1-4 record to start the year. Warrior helped hold the team together behind the scenes and was an encouraging voice that inspired confidence and helped the team turn their season around.

Time will tell what awards the senior defensive back will rack up at the end of the season. He has already made a case that he deserves to be considered by teams as a late draft pick and if not drafted will assuredly make some team's roster as an undrafted free agent.

Nigel Warrior is a shining example of the ability of Pruitt and Ansley to develop defensive backs into pro-ready prospects and that will go a long way on the recruiting trail to be sure.

Three Keys to a Tennessee Win over Missouri

Stop me if you've heard this before: this is a big game. I know, I know. You've heard that every week for the past 4 weeks, but it is no less true now than it was then. Taking a winning streak into bowl season would do wonders for our recruiting efforts in next year's (2021) class, and to a lesser extent the class we're building currently.

But it's no easy task. No SEC game is an easy win. (Okay, maybe Vanderbilt or Arkansas) Missouri is no exception. Barry Odom made his name on the defensive side of the football and his mark is all over his defense. Missouri has the #19 scoring defense in the country. They allow an average of 165.9 yards through the air this season and only 131.7 on the ground.


So now we get to the keys to getting a win over Missouri.

The only clear advantage the Tennessee Volunteers have over Missouri is Tennessee's defense vs. Missouri's offense. Derek Dooley has had a terrible time trying to replace the production of Drew Lock this year. Kelly Bryant has been very average most of the year and he's been banged up a lot too and missed games. He is, however, expected to be healthy for this game. Bryant is a much better runner than he is a passer and considering the trouble Lynn Bowden gave the Vols on the ground two weeks ago, keying on him and setting the edge on defense will be critical.

Key #1: Limit Missouri's running game with both Bryant and Larry Rountree.

Rountree has 706 yards on the ground this season averaging 5.6 yards per carry. He's a legit SEC back and he has run wild on Tennessee's defense previously, running for 135 yards, a TD on the ground and another through the air in 2018. Keying in on him will definitely be a big part of the gameplan and it's a portion of it the defense must execute.

That brings us to Key #2: Run the ball efficiently.

This is not going to be an easy task based on recent history and Missouri's defensive stats vs. the run this season. Still, it's something I feel like we must do to beat the Tigers. We don't have to dominate on the ground. We just need to run enough to keep the defense honest so that we can get good match-ups with our big wide receivers who match-up pretty well vs. Missouri's corners.

Key # 3: The Assasin, Brent Cimaglia

Cimaglia has been nothing short of brilliant this year making 90.5% of his field-goal tries including 14 of 15 from 40 yards out.

Due to Tennessee's notorious struggles in the red zone, I feel like Cimaglia will have to come through in a big way for Tennessee to win.

As long as Tennessee does these three things well on Saturday they should be able to carry a 4-game winning streak into the Vanderbilt game which will be much less of a challenge than Missouri.

Winning at Vanderbilt and carrying a 5-game winning streak into what should be a winnable bowl game will certainly get the attention of 2021 recruits and assure 2020 commits in their commitments. the Tennessee Volunteers are taking the baby steps that are necessary to return to prominence on the big stage. Time will tell whether or not they get there, but it appears they are at least on the right track.

December Official Visits

December 13th

TE Darnell Washington

DE Tyler Baron

DB Doneiko Slaughter (ASU commit)

RB Jabari Small (commit)

OL Javontez Spraggins (commit)

WR Jimmy Calloway (commit)

DB Keshawn Lawrence (commit)

RB Tee Hodge (commit)