War Room: Official visits start, summer work continues, super regional prep and more
We begin this edition of the War Room as we always do. The War Room is a collective effort of Tennessee notes and news gathered throughout the week by the Volquest staff. And now, it’s on with the news.
Summer workouts are in full swing for the football team as they work on strength training the first part of the summer and then the heavy focus shifts to conditioning later in the 60 or so days of work.
Many of you have asked about weight gains this off-season and two of the biggest have come from Caleb Herring who’s over 250 pounds and Joshua Josephs who’s 245-250.
Joseph’s focus has been much improved and he’s a guy who has generated a little off-season buzz. Trevor Duncan is right at 300 pounds which is about 25 pounds heavier than he was a year ago. Nathan Robinson is at 295 pounds which is up 25 pounds from his arrival.
Robinson is a guy who could make some real strides this summer as he is healthier than he has been since he was heading into his senior year of high school. Another guy who will also benefit from being healthy is Daevin Hobbs.
Hobbs was in a shoulder sling this time a year ago recovering from surgery and missed summer workouts. He’s healthy and physically is reaping the benefits of it in the weight room. Not just with his upper body but with explosive stuff as well. Elijah Simmons is about 340-345 pounds, which is down for him. His goal is to be 325 of so for fall camp.
We mentioned in the War Room a couple of weeks ago about the young offensive linemen benefitting from being thrown into the fire in the spring. All those young guys benefitted from the work they got. Maybe no one more than Jesse Perry whose biggest improvement came in pass protection. Perry made real strides in that area in spring and is carrying more confidence into the summer.
Some of that confidence comes from simply getting bigger and stronger. Perry was listed around 275 pounds when he signed. He’s now over 300 pounds. He’s a guy that won over the coaching staff in summer camp before his senior year and landed an offer. There’s some real vibes that evaluation is going to pay off for the Vols.
As Austin mentioned in the chat Monday night Cam Seldon is out of the sling and is working out. There are some things he’s still limited with as expected, but his rehab has gone well and he is said to be ahead of schedule whatever that truly means. But Seldon seems to be healing nicely.
The coaching staff spent a day in Cleveland this week visiting with the Browns’ staff and talking ball.
Tennessee and the rest of the SEC will learn the windows for their conference games late next week. While the specific kickoff times will not be announced, fans will know whether it’s a day or night game for basically every game which is a nice luxury for out of town fans trying to decide if they need a hotel room for Friday night or Saturday night based off kickoff time.
Everyone is also waiting to see if the new rule passes that says anyone on staff can be declared a recruiter and can be on the road. Now the rule states you have to make a designation for the year meaning you can have an analyst on one week and a full time assistant on his his place the next week. If that rule passes it’s going to make for some interesting decisions for head coaches about which 10 to put on the road and about salaries.
When the Tennessee baseball team finishes their home schedule this weekend, construction crews will start on Lindsey Nelson Stadium. This phase is a heck of a challenge in the sense of all you are trying to accomplish in on off-season. The contractor obviously has to have the project done or in a position of making the venue usable next February.
So there will be some strategy in how they work this phase, just like there is in Neyland Stadium where the south concourse is a multi-year project. The bottom line is that work will start next week, but they aren’t taking a wrecking ball and doing all the demo first. They will do things in stages.
Speaking of Neyland Stadium, here are a couple of inside pictures on work being done including renovations to the second level concessions and bathrooms on the north side of the stadium.
Recruiting
Tennessee is set to host six official visitors this weekend with Josh Petty being the headliner. Petty comes into the weekend with Florida State out in front but as we have said, his fondness for Tennessee growing up gives Tennessee a shot to flip the momentum. We will be interested to see what he says coming out of the weekend.
Petty knows David Sanders quite well and would love to play with him in college. And it certainly feels like Tennessee still has momentum with Sanders leaving his Clemson visit last weekend. Sanders will be here next weekend and get plenty of time with George MacIntyre and others. Tennessee simply has to close here as they have been the perceived leader for a while and will need to fend off Ohio State and Georgia who are going to take big swings with their official visits this month.
Tennessee has taken a long hard look at their offensive line numbers exiting spring practice. After seeing what Gage Ginther, Jesse Perry and others showed during spring, and having loved how Bennett Warren and Jeremias Heard showed up physically a couple of weeks ago, we expect Tennessee to focus more on interior lineman for this class over tackle.
Don’t get me wrong, Petty, Sanders and Juan Gaston are big names that Tennessee is going to swing hard for, but much of the focus is going to be on the interior. Basically the tackle spot is a ‘go big or go home’ approach with the previous three we mentioned. As of now, it doesn’t feel like Jaelyne Matthews and Tennessee are a match that will happen based off people we spoke to this week and he is now not scheduled to visit next weekend.
As for the interior offensive lineman, Jacobe Ward, Nic Moore, and Douglas Utu will visit over the next couple of weeks as Tennessee would love to add them to go along with Antoni Ogumoro.
Wide receiver Travis Smith will take visits to Auburn and Alabama the next couple of weeks, but we expect him to tell them thanks but no thanks as this is clearly a Tennessee and Georgia battle. Tennessee is going to get the last visit and it will be up to how he feels leaving that visit whether the Vols can pull him out of the peach state or not.
He told us earlier this week that he is going through some of the same things that Mike Matthews went through last year and so we would expect Matthews used to be a part of his visit as likely the host.
Georgia linebacker commit Jadon Perlotte doesn’t feel like he will end up in the Bulldogs class. It feels like they are going to go in another direction which means Tennessee could have a chance to steal him from a few other teams like Alabama with his visit coming up here in the next week or two. It certainly feels like Tennessee is trying to find their footing at linebacker, and so adding someone like him could be a real positive.
Jayden Loftin is one Tennessee has kept tabs on for some time. He is a prospect with plenty of upside, and he is high on the Vols coming into the weekend. We will continue to watch his timeline once the weekend ends, as Tennessee is still set to host several other pass rushers in the coming weeks.
Also at EDGE, Tennessee has quietly been in the recruitment of Cortez Harris for sometime. This will be an important visit for his process, as he has not taken many visits this spring. He reports a strong relationship with the staff and will take a deep dive into the program this weekend.
Tennessee will take a swing at Brandon Brown this weekend as well. The Texas commitment has remained active in taking visits, and Rodney Garner has worked on him for several months now. LSU picked up some momentum with Brown last weekend during his official to Baton Rouge, and now, the Vols will have their opportunity to impress this weekend.
Hawaiian safety Aiden Manutai rolls into town this weekend for an official visit that he has been excited for. Tim Banks has been active in his recruitment, and that has caught Manutai’s attention over the last few months. This is a big visit as he will continue seeing schools in June and likely make a decision in early to mid-July. The culture at Tennessee will be something he pays close attention to throughout the weekend.
On Thursday, we caught up with Onis Konanbanny. He maintained FSU is his leader, but noted the Vols are right there. Konanbanny was with his team for a campus tour on Wednesday and back again on Thursday for 7v7. He was impressive all day long, and multiple Tennessee staffers were there to show him attention.
Florida State’s visit was very personable and went about as well as it could have, but the Vols will get his last visit in June, and this could go a long way, in our estimation.
Baseball
Tennessee baseball is back in super regional play for the fourth-straight season and sixth time in program history. With a series-win over Evansville, the Vols will be back in Omaha, competing in the College World Series, for the third time in four seasons.
But first, the Vols must deal with the Purple Aces who become just the ninth team ever to advance on to super regionals as a No. 4 seed. Evansville outlasted host program East Carolina to win the Greeneville Regional on Monday in a decisive game seven of the weekend.
Evansville can swing it as its second in the country in doubles and has recorded program-highs in doubles, runs scored and home runs in 2024. The 38 wins is tied for the sixth-most in program history and the Purple Aces are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004.
Outfielder Mark Shallenberger (.30, 17 HR, 63 RBI) and designated hitter Kip Fougerousse (.350, 21 HR, 66 RBI) pace the lineup while talented true freshman lefty Kenton Deverman (9-1, 3.81 ERA) will get the start on Friday for the Purple Aces.
On paper, you love the path to Omaha for Tennessee, but the game isn’t played on paper. The Vols are approaching this just like any other series on the SEC slate.
As of now, there’s four visitors scheduled to be on campus from the transfer portal.
UTL Blake Cyre (Miami)RHP Cody Bowker (Georgetown) INF Gavin Kilen (Louisville)RHP Tommy Lapour (Wichita State)
And as Tony Vitello mentioned this week, no AJ Russell this weekend for Supers. He is likely done for the season.
Hoops
After a frantic month or so of doing some heavy lifting in the portal things are settling down for the Tennessee basketball squad.
We wouldn’t rule out some recruiting activity down the road this summer after the July evaluation period, but the focus at the moment is about to turn strongly towards summer workouts.
On Thursday the Vols had their first full team meeting with the entire squad—minutes Igor Milicic who is playing with his national team—where expectations for the summer where communicated.
The offseason has always been a big deal in the Tennessee program under Barnes given the track record they have had with player development. This is the time of year where one player after another in this program has taken some big steps.
Player development is still a priority, but with the influx of multiple transfers becoming the norm every offseason, building team chemistry and figuring out how all of the pieces fit together has become more and more of a focal point for the coaching staff.
Tennessee obviously did a nice job of that last offseason, but the Vols also benefitted from being able to take that overseas trip to Italy for three games.
That won’t be the case this summer and the staff will be looking to work in even more new faces who are going to be contributors than this time last year.
Without going overboard based off of a small sample size, the early returns on all the transfers have been positive.
Milicic is a legit 6-foot-10 and has really impressed with his outside stroke. Darlinstone Dubar isn’t quite as tall as the 6-foot-8 he was listed at Hofstra, but he’s impressed with his athleticism, wiry strength and outside shot.
With the entire team (minus Milicic) in place now they have this final weekend off before offseason workouts begin in earnest on Monday morning.
The post War Room: Official visits start, summer work continues, super regional prep and more appeared first on On3.
Welcome to Billionaire Club Co LLC, your gateway to a brand-new social media experience! Sign up today and dive into over 10,000 fresh daily articles and videos curated just for your enjoyment. Enjoy the ad free experience, unlimited content interactions, and get that coveted blue check verification—all for just $1 a month!
Account Frozen
Your account is frozen. You can still view content but cannot interact with it.
Please go to your settings to update your account status.
Open Profile Settings