The Tennessee Volunteers have had a long layoff as they prepare for the Music City Bowl, and they devoted a good deal of that time to recruiting. The recruiting dead period (which means no face-to-face interaction) is now here, but there are several recruits who could commit to the Vols during this period. As a result, there's plenty of action around Tennessee football recruiting. Here are all the latest Tennessee recruiting news and rumors you need to know.
Vols a finalist for former Alabama commit
Three-star defensive lineman Aaron Sterling (Tucker, GA) decommitted from Alabama, and is considering Georgia, NC State, South Carolina, Tennessee as his finalists.
Sterling says he doesn't have an order, but has visited the Vols "three or four times," and told 247sports what he likes about Tennessee:
“They’ve got very good fans — pretty good experience,” said Sterling. “The fans show a lot of support — I can say that — packed-out arena. It gets loud. It gets very loud in Tennessee. It gets very loud.
“Coach Stripling and Coach Jones and Coach Ollie are really pushing toward me. Coming from the head coach himself, that means a lot when he says, ‘You will come in and play right away if you do what you’re supposed to.’ That’s the head man telling me that, if you come in and do what you’re supposed to, you will get playing time — probably even start. Basically, that’s what they were telling me.
“Basically, I can come in, play as a freshman, might start at D-end, basically, to replace Derek Barnett. They want me to come in and replace him.”
The 6-foot-3, 250-pounder is ranked as the No. 17 strong-side defensive end and No. 404 overall prospect in the country.
Tennessee a favorite for 2018 WR
2018 four-star wide receiver Joshua Moore (Yoakum, TX) released his 14 top schools on Twitter on Wednesday, with the Vols making the cut:
Thank you to everyone that has supported me along my journey! #GodIsLove pic.twitter.com/p9sCmPuGNS
— JoshuaMoore (@_TheJoshuaMoore) December 28, 2016
Along with Tennessee, Moore is also considering Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas A&M.
The 6-foot-1, 170-pounder is ranked as the No. 8 wideout and No. 60 overall prospect in the 2018 class.
All-American punter hoping for Tennessee offer
Two-star punter Joe Doyle (Knoxville, TN) will be playing in the Under Armour All-American Game on New Year's Day, but only has one scholarship offer from Air Force. Tennessee, Iowa, Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee State have also expressed interest in him, but Doyle his hoping that a strong performance in the game will earn him a scholarship offer from the Vols.
“This trip is very important for me, just to show everyone what I can do and just go out and show how consistent I can be and how powerful I could be,” he said. “It’s been very stressful, just waiting and seeing what comes up, seeing what they have left over, what schools have left over. It’s definitely been stressful for me and my family. But wherever I go, I’m sure it’s for the best.”
The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder is ranked as the No. 6 punter and No. 2,042 overall prospect in the country.
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