Tennessee Football: Bold Predictions for Volunteers' 2016 Recruiting Class

No matter how well Tennessee coach Butch Jones closes the Volunteers' 2016 recruiting class, it's going to be a tall order to live up to the program-projectile success of the past two seasons.

Without painting a gloom-and-doom scenario for this year's haul, the Vols simply haven't experienced the same success luring their top targets to Rocky Top during the current cycle.

Of the important players left, there are no guarantees they'll get any of them, either.

On one hand, it's difficult to sell playing time when your two-deep roster is full of freshmen and sophomores. Also, some players such as safety Nigel Warrior are being coveted by the top teams in the nation, and UT is having to battle to keep their interest.

Though UT took a big step forward this year, it's possible prospects still have questions about whether Jones will have the Vols playing championship-caliber football right away.

The Vols look like they could be ready to break out on the field. But they have to find a way to convince some of the top players around the Southeast of that. Currently, the Vols are 18th nationally and just eighth in the SEC in recruiting.

Still, nobody in Knoxville seems too concerned. This year's crop of Vols may be short on star power, but the potential remains.

In the past two seasons, Jones had sewn up many of his big names by this time. Now, we'll get to see what kind of closer he is.

Let's take a look at some bold predictions for this year's class.

Tennessee won't finish in the top 10

Credit: 247Sports

Again, the object of this exercise is to be "bold," so this could certainly change—especially considering the coaching carousel that's occurring in the SEC right now.

But with 18 spots already taken in the Vols' class, the possibility that UT can only add (at the most) four or five more players, and with the wiggle room from the teams above them in the rankings, it's difficult to see Tennessee moving up eight slots to get into the upper echelon.

In order to do that, the Vols would have to hit some home runs with guys such as Warrior, Mecole Hardman, Velus Jones Jr., Landon Dickerson, Derrick Brown and Jeffery Simmons, for example. It's hard to see UT ending up with more than two or three of those.

But that hasn't kept recruiting analysts such as 247Sports' Steve Wiltfong heaping praise on the additions UT is making to its team, such as when top-ranked JUCO prospect Jonathan Kongbo pledged to the Vols last weekend.

The ever-expanding board is still full of top targets who are highly ranked, but you can't look at the remaining players and say definitively that the Vols lead for any of them. 

That's going to be a problem when it comes to raw numbers at the close of the class. That doesn't mean Tennessee's group of newcomers is going to be any better or worse than the past couple have been; they just may not be as lauded by the "experts."

Instant-impact potential will still be high

Credit: 247Sports

While the Vols had many players from their loaded 2014 and '15 classes come right in and start out of necessity, this year's group has the same potential.

The team must address a couple of more needs (such as offensive tackle and safety) in the class, but UT could have nearly as many big-impact players in this year's group as last year's, when 10-12 players saw significant action during an 8-4 regular season that just concluded.

Jones dipped into the JUCO ranks to pull a handful of players who will play right away. Not only will the recent addition of Kongbo solidify the defensive line rotation, but 4-star Alexis Johnson (the nation's top JUCO defensive tackle) will almost certainly play immediately.

The 6'4", 297-pound mauler has received plenty of attention from some of the nation's top schools recently, but he told GoVols247's Ryan Callahan that even an offer from Alabama can't sway him.

"I ain't taking no more visits. I’ll be there (at Tennessee) in a month," he said. "I feel even better about my decision. I’ll be there in a month—January 10—so I’m looking forward to that."

That's huge news for the Vols, who've gotten plenty of help in the form of college kids. JUCO cornerback Desmond Henderson also could carve a role quickly, and tall two-year receiver Jeff George looks like the kind of athlete who can come in and help UT stretch the field right away.

On top of that JUCO group of four, cornerback Marquill Osborne, offensive tackle Ryan Johnson, tight end Austin Pope and athletic defensive tackle D'Andre Christmas-Giles find themselves stepping into position battles with playing time up for grabs. That's as many as eight players who could play right away.

Though quarterback Jarrett Guarantano and running back Carlin Fils-aime will find the treading tougher for immediate playing time, their ceilings are also high down the road.

Vols will strike out with important Georgia trio

Credit: 247Sports

With more than two months left before national signing day, there is still a ton of time for 17-year-old kids to change their minds two or three times.

But, right now, it looks like a distinct possibility that Tennessee could come up empty-handed on four massive targets out of the state of Georgia whom the Vols have coveted for more than a year.

National top-ranked receiver Kyle Davis already committed to Auburn over Tennessee and Georgia, and that was a tough blow for the Vols. Given the craziness of all the coaching dominoes that could fall on the Plains and the ones that already have fallen between the hedges, there could be plenty of movers and shakers.

It doesn't look like much of the movement will benefit the Vols.

Georgia replaced Mark Richt with Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, who was an ace recruiter for Nick Saban's Crimson Tide in the state of Georgia. That may be big news for Warrior, who was recruited heavily by Smart and was thought to be leaning toward Alabama.

Barton Simmons of 247Sports mentions Georgia as being a potential big winner in the coaching shuffle and mentions Warrior's name as a possible pledge with Smart in the fold.

Tennessee will be in the Warrior sweepstakes until the end. His father, Dale Carter, is a UT legend, and the Vols were once Warrior's leader. But he still loves Alabama, and now the Dawgs are back in the hunt, so it's difficult to call that one for UT.

Receiver/athlete Hardman likes Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama as well, but he also has a close relationship with UGA lead recruiter Jeremy Pruitt, who may not be retained as defensive coordinator. Hardman still may go to Athens, or he could wind up where Pruitt does.

But again, UT is fighting just to hang in that one.

Hardman's lead recruiter in Knoxville is passing game coordinator Zach Azzanni, who could be in play as D.J. Durkin's offensive coordinator at Maryland. If that happens, it's just more things trending in the wrong direction for the Vols in Hardman's recruitment.

Finally, maybe the best chance the Vols have to lure one of the elite Georgia players comes from the defensive line. Brown will wind up his official visits in Knoxville, and if the Vols can lure the 5-star prospect, he would be the centerpiece of the class.

Fellow DT Tyler Clark (a Georgia commit) told 247Sports he's visiting Knoxville this weekend, so while Tennessee may not convince Warrior, Hardman or Brown to come, the Vols could still hit on a couple of key playmakers.

Even so, while it wouldn't be devastating to lose out on Davis, Hardman, Warrior and Brown, it would be a gut punch. The Vols have put a lot of time and resources into those prospects.

They'll still land Dickerson and Jones

Credit: 247Sports

Two major needs remaining in this year's recruiting haul reside along the offensive front and at receiver.

While the Vols have several pass-catchers already committed, they need a game-breaking speedster. That would be met with a commitment from current USC pledge Jones. The 5'11", 180-pound Saraland, Alabama, speedster is visiting Knoxville this weekend, per Callahan.

He'd be an ideal player to take the sting from potentially losing the battle for Hardman. Jones has blazing speed and could immediately fill a role for Tennessee in the 2016 offense.

Yes, the Trojans could keep him on board since they kept Clay Helton on as head coach, but if the Vols can get him on campus, woo him with the potential of quick playing time and offer a university on the rise much closer to home, it's not out of the realm of possibility that they flip him.

Meanwhile, Dickerson is a 6'5", 293-pound versatile offensive lineman who may project as an offensive guard on the next level but also has the potential of filling a major UT void at tackle.

Regardless of what position on the front he would play, Dickerson is a major target and the biggest remaining lineman target left on Tennessee's board. He recently took back-to-back visits to Knoxville, and though some of the Southeast's top schools are recruiting him, the Vols have to like where they sit.

"I've always had an interest in Tennessee, and the experience did help," Dickerson told Callahan of his consecutive UT visits. "It really didn't hurt at all. I wouldn't even call it solidifying. Going back up there just really kind of (allowed me to) get back in touch with everybody."

It's not going to be one of those seasons like last year when, at the end of the recruiting cycle, you look up and down UT's class and say that the Vols got everybody they wanted. It just isn't going to shake out that way, and it isn't the end of the world with all the youth on the roster and the in-state talent on deck in 2017.

But with the players already secured as commitments and all the JUCO help at positions of need, along with the coaching uncertainty permeating the region and the prospect fallout than could result from it, there are plenty of movable parts.

If the Vols can win their bowl game convincingly, Butch Jones has yet to give UT fans any reason to believe he can't still tie a pretty bow on this class. That would be huge to keep Tennessee's talent train chugging.

All stats gathered from UTSports.com unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information gathered from 247Sports unless otherwise noted. All quotes and information gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. 

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.