Tennessee Football: Position-by-Position Grades for 2015 Recruiting Class
What started on the heels of a 2014 recruiting class billed to put Tennessee football back on the college football map eventually turned into a 2015 haul that is even better than its predecessor.
Head coach Butch Jones put the finishing touches on a class a couple of weeks ago that (at least on paper) has the potential to be one of the top three classes in school history. The group of 29 players wound up ranked fourth nationally, but a closer look proves it could be much better.
It also met virtually every need UT had with the numbers it was allotted.
There are few holes in the newest batch of Vols.
It's a class that was consensus top-five across the four major recruiting services of 247Sports, Rivals.com, Scout and ESPN Recruiting Nation and featured three positions (offensive line, defensive tackle, quarterback) that finished rated among the best in the country.
UT needed this year's class to be lineman-heavy, so Jones went out and signed five on the offensive front and six more on the defensive side. The Vols desperately needed a quarterback. So they got three. Running back had shoddy numbers, so Tennessee signed two true runners and a pair of athletes who could wind up there too.
All in all, the class was strong across the board. Let's take a look at the position-by-position breakdown and grades.
Quarterbacks
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It's highly unusual for a college football team to sign three quarterbacks in the same class, but it's also odd to have a 4-star prospect fall into your lap so late in the game.
Yet that's exactly what happened to the Vols this year when former Florida commit Sheriron Jones decommitted from the Gators and signed with UT despite Butch Jones already having two quarterback commits in the fold.
The Moreno Valley, California, signal-caller was undeterred that 4-star pro-style commit Quinten Dormady and 4-star in-state dual-threat pledge Jauan Jennings were already enrolled mid-term and would get to participate in spring drills.
The only other team that had that kind of recruiting success at the most visible position on the field was Florida State.
Now, new offensive coordinator Mike DeBord will have three young minds with much different sets of physical attributes to mold.
Dormady is the strong-armed Texan, Jennings is the athletic Tennessean trying to stick at the spot in which he wants to play at the next level and Sheriron Jones is the precision-passing wild card. At least one of them has to get ready right away with Nathan Peterman transferred to Pittsburgh.
All three were thought well enough of to be given 4-star rankings, and any of the three could be Tennessee's face of the future when Joshua Dobbs leaves. All of that equals an ideal grade.
Grade: A+
Running Backs
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This positional grade got docked somewhat when Kendall Bussey flipped to Texas A&M the week of national signing day.
Even so, it's hard to throw rocks at a group that includes as close to a "sure thing" as there is in this class in 4-star JUCO running back Alvin Kamara. The all-purpose runner is already enrolled and is a lock to get major carries along with returning sophomore Jalen Hurd.
The former Alabama running back had such a strong season he earned 5-star status on a couple of different services including Rivals.com, and he has the kind of potential to make a huge impact right away.
With the maturity issues he struggled with at UA behind him, the sky is the limit.
He told the Knoxville News-Sentinel's Dustin Dopirak: "It's tough being in JUCO. JUCO is a whole different world than being in a D-I school. ... My high school weight room was bigger than Hutchinson. It makes you step back and appreciate the things that you have because coming from Alabama going to Hutch, it was like, 'Whoa.' It was like a shock."
Throw in John Kelly—a player UT coaches loved enough to make him "Tennessee's top remaining running-back target over the final two months leading up to signing day after getting an offer from the Vols in late November," according to GoVols247's Ryan Callahan.
Kelly was overshadowed a bit by Ohio State signee and high school teammate Mike Weber, but he has everything coaches look for in a running back. Schools such as Michigan and Michigan State wanted Kelly to play defense, but UT identified him as an offensive player and was able to lure him South.
Knoxville product Jocquez Bruce and Nashville athlete Vincent Perry could get looks at running back, if the blueshirt candidates wind up on Rocky Top. UT also remains a player for 3-star Joseph Young, who could be a late, post-signing day addition.
The two definite runners are nice, but the Vols needed a third big-time back, so the grade isn't perfect.
Grade: A
Wide Receivers
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Wide receiver wasn't a major focus for the Vols during this recruiting cycle, but the one player they did get at the position has superstar potential.
Lovejoy, Georgia, pass-catcher Preston Williams followed through with his year-and-a-half commitment to Tennessee and signed with the Vols despite late interest from many SEC teams, including Georgia and Auburn.
The 6'4", 191-pound receiver is a physical specimen with a huge frame, soft hands and a huge upside. He isn't the fastest player on the field, but his skill set was enough to have him rated as the seventh-best receiver in the country on the 247Sports composite rankings.
Some services rate him as a 5-star prospect, such as Scout.
Williams tore knee ligaments during his senior season and will have to have a successful rehab to see the field in 2015, but players like him don't like to redshirt. If he can play, he'll be given the opportunity to crack a very deep and talented rotation in Knoxville.
Despite Williams' prowess, the Vols targeted several other receivers throughout the cycle. Vincent Perry may wind up there for depth purposes, but UT's lack of focus on the position and some post-signing day defections from current players will make receiver recruiting a priority in '16.
Grade: B+
Tight Ends
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With four tight ends already on the roster, recruiting the position was a bit of a luxury for the Vols in 2015.
So they did what they should have done: went out and signed an athletic player with a huge upside to season and prepare to star down the road. That's exactly what UT got with 3-star Mufreesboro, Tennessee, tight end Kyle Oliver.
The 6'5", 230-pound converted receiver has the speed to eventually be the kind of mismatch player offenses love to have for an added wrinkle. He undoubtedly needs to put on some weight to be a force in the run game, but the great thing is UT has the luxury to let him marinate.
With Ethan Wolf, Alex Ellis, A.J. Branisel and Neiko Creamer on the roster, Oliver isn't needed right now.
By the time he is, he'll be ready to show why several of the nation's top teams, such as Ole Miss, Florida State and Ohio State, gauged interest, according to Tom Kreager of The Daily News Journal. He has the size, frame, athleticism, hands and everything else you could want in a tight end.
Once he gets the strength down, he'll have the potential to be a nice player. For now, he's a redshirt certainty.
Grade: B
Offensive Line
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Tennessee already was going to sign a solid offensive line class before the 11th-hour flip of Drew Richmond. He just made the Vols' haul spectacular. Any time you can get the nation's third-ranked offensive tackle away from a fellow conference team that late in the game, it's a major victory.
Richmond possesses the perfect frame to play in a zone-blocking scheme, and at 6'5", 310 pounds, he could step right in and factor in a tackle rotation rife with question marks.
The signing of Richmond was massive, and head coach Butch Jones spoke on national signing day of a special relationship he had with the player, telling The Daily Beacon's Nathanael Rutherford that Richmond "completed the class."
The Vols also signed Chance Hall and Jack Jones, mid-term enrollees who committed early in the cycle, to play tackle. Jones was an early cornerstone who helped put together the class, and Hall was a bit of a surprise UT had in its back pocket.
Hall is just the kind of tackle prospect UT was looking for, but he is also extremely raw and coming off an Achilles injury. Jones appears to be an ideal right tackle in the future but could play guard as well if the Vols need some help there.
They probably won't.
Venzell Boulware elected to stick with UT instead of flipping to Ohio State or Georgia, and while he'll get a chance to play tackle, he is a fantastic guard prospect whom the nation's best teams coveted.
Country strong Zach Stewart was overlooked nationally because he came from a tiny East Tennessee school, but he grew up bleeding orange and will be a future player on Rocky Top.
Grade: A
Defensive Ends
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How good was Tennessee's defensive ends class?
It was so deep and talented that the Vols had to make the difficult decision to cut ties with 4-star Under-Armour All-American Marques Ford two weeks before national signing day, leading to Ford ultimately signing with Rutgers.
The Vols wound up signing three defensive ends, and all three have major talent.
Kyle Phillips—the nation's fourth-ranked strong-side defensive end—represented one of the defining moments of the entire 2015 class when the Nashville native wowed through a week of U.S. Army All-American Bowl practices, pledged to UT on the national telecast and then moved to Knoxville the following Monday.
According to GoVols247's Barton Simmons, He'd been up in the air between the Vols and other finalists Ole Miss and LSU but wound up coming to Tennessee and really making the class.
Then there's the speed-rushing Darrell Taylor, who has athletic-freak potential. The Vols seemingly came from nowhere to steal the 6'4", 230-pound Hopewell, Virginia, native from UVA and Virginia Tech. He has the wingspan, speed and frame that screams NFL.
Far from a throw-in, 6'2", 245-pound strong-side defensive end Andrew Butcher was one of UT's earliest pledges, and he's already enrolled in Knoxville. The Alpharetta, Georgia, product is a Clemson legacy who will be wearing a different orange the next four years.
Butcher has the blend of motor and strength that has drawn favorable comparisons to Vols great Will Overstreet. Considering he's already in UT's weight program, don't sleep on him contributing quickly.
Really, it was a best-case scenario for UT at the position.
Grade: A+
Defensive Tackles
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Solidifying a commitment from one of the nation's top players at any position in Kahlil McKenzie by itself would have provided a respectable grade for the Vols. But they went out and got 4-star stud Shy Tuttle (who is already in UT's weight room getting ready for the season) to go along with him. The 6'3", 315-pound lineman is a marquee player in his own right wanted by most of the top teams in the Southeast.
With versatile, inside-out lineman Quay Picou coming to Knoxville as well, the defensive interior should be fun to watch in the future. If nothing else, it will occupy plenty of attention to let Derek Barnett do his thing on the outside.
McKenzie and Tuttle are as fearsome a duo as any in the country, and their ceilings are first-round NFL draft picks. McKenzie is especially a monster—a 6'3", 354-pound rising star who already has enjoyed trolling UT rival Alabama on Twitter, according to Knoxville's WBIR.com.
Tuttle is much quieter, and he's just going about his business in the weight room, trying to redistribute some bad weight and take advantage of a golden opportunity for playing time on a thin orange line in '15.
"I feel like it's very beneficial," Tuttle told GoVols247's Wes Rucker of being a mid-term enrollee. "I mean, looking forward to next season, I'll be ahead and just be comfortable with the coaches and the playbook."
Fun times are coming on Rocky Top, and that can be traced to the success recruiting in the trenches. If that's where games are truly won or lost, there are going to be a lot of W's in Knoxville.
Grade: A+
Linebackers
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Go watch Austin Smith's highlight film and see if he looks like the nation's 42nd-ranked outside linebacker. He's 6'3.5", 235 pounds, played at one of the top high school football programs in the entire nation in Buford High School outside of Atlanta and is a sideline-to-sideline star. Even so, he's a 3-star prospect, albeit one Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU and others wanted.
He wound up in Knoxville, where the Vols must be thrilled to have him to go along with another pair of second-level players they likely feel are going to be stars.
One of the class jewels is middle linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr., who possesses the kind of talent that could enable him to step right in as a freshman and replace departed senior A.J. Johnson. The bad news for Kirkland (and the Vols) is that he will miss the spring due to injury.
Kirkland decommitted from Michigan when Brady Hoke was fired, and UT was the beneficiary of one of the most college-ready linebackers in the country.
Smith's fellow suburban Atlantan, Quart'e Sapp, was a longtime target and a late addition to Tennessee's recruiting class, and though he probably needs a year in the weight room, Sapp is an elite athlete who tackles brilliantly in space.
The Vols have some depth on the roster at linebacker, but this trio should provide a big boost for the future.
Grade: A
Cornerbacks
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Tennessee secondary coach Willie Martinez did all he could have hoped for in the 2015 recruiting cycle with his three commitments. He got an instant-impact, all-star athlete in Justin Martin, who should come right out of JUCO and compete with sophomore Emmanuel Moseley for the starting position opposite Cameron Sutton.
He got a college-ready, under-the-radar cornerback in Texas high school star Darrell (D.J.) Miller, who may not be needed right away but has the size and technique to be a dependable rotation cog if needed.
And he got a budding star in Micah Abernathy, who may be a bit raw at the position but is a 4-star talent who was coveted by Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama and others. He could wind up being the best of the bunch.
However, at 6'2", 190 pounds and with blazing speed, Martin has the potential to be special immediately.
He was coveted by LSU, Texas A&M, Auburn and more, but he elected to stay true to Butch Jones after the coach identified him at Overton High School in Nashville and helped place him in a JUCO, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M coach Ryan Held told The Tennessean's Maurice Patton.
With three years to play, Martin is a huge asset.
As for Abernathy, he struggled in all-star settings against top-level wide receiver competition because he rarely played corner in high school. Given time, he'll catch on, but at nearly 6'1", 190, it's not out of the realm of possibility he could grow into a safety down the road.
For now, he's part of a solid cornerback class.
Grade: A-
Safeties
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Say this for the Vols: They identified a player they wanted extremely early in the process at safety in 6'2", 185-pound 3-star Stephen Griffin, and then they just dropped recruiting the position altogether.
Considering UT has two rising senior safeties in Brian Randolph and LaDarrell McNeil, not going after another player at the position was puzzling, to say the least. It's enough to make you wonder if the staff doesn't envision Abernathy playing on the back level down the road.
Griffin pledged to UT last March, and despite flirtations with North Carolina and Clemson, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native stuck with the Vols, signed and enrolled for mid-term.
Blessed with good size, Griffin could grow into a major asset at the position if he doesn't grow into a linebacker. Even so, the Vols probably should have taken another safety, and it makes this 2016 cycle a make-or-break scenario at the position. Yes, they are in on some really good players at safety in this cycle, but even if they land them, at least one will be forced to play right away.
That could have been avoided if UT had put on the full-court press for a player such as Rico McGraw, but that didn't happen. So the Vols ultimately fell a little short here.
Grade: C+
Specialists
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Few players have as wide-open of a path to starting in college as newly minted Tennessee punter Tommy Townsend. After signing with UT, the Orlando specialist is the only scholarship punter on the Vols roster with the graduation of Matt Darr. That means he'll likely be competing with walk-on Trevor Daniel for the job.
No pressure, kid.
The U.S. Army All-American Bowl participant was rated only the seventh-ranked overall punter in the class, though UT must have loved his leg and athleticism. He punted and played strong safety for Boone High School. His brother, Johnny, punts for Florida.
The Vols also gave a scholarship to a long snapper, which is something you don't see every day. Riley Lovingood, a 6'2", 240-pound specialist, won't be needed right away, as Matt Giampapa will return for his redshirt senior season, but it's a vital position that UT obviously felt warranted a scholarship.
The Vols need both of these guys to be can't-miss prospects. One will get the opportunity right away to show he can cut it, and the other will be a key player down the road.
Grade: B+
All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports composite rankings unless otherwise noted. All stats gathered from CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted.
Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.
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