The Tennessee Volunteers have had a long layoff as they prepare for the Music City Bowl, and some that time is devoted 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.
Cam Akers sets decision date
Five-star running back and top Tennessee target Cam Akers (Clinton, MS) announced on Twitter that he will be announcing his college decision on Dec. 27 at 8:00 pm ET:
Important announcement pic.twitter.com/pxayNBzcB3
— Cam akers (@thereal_cam3) December 21, 2016
Akers was previously expected to make his choice during the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 7, but decided to move the date up. He is considering Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
The 5-foot-11, 215-pounder is ranked as the No. 2 running back and No. 4 overall prospect in the country by 247sports.
Tennessee offers former Rutgers commit
Three-star athlete Johnathan Lovett (Burlington, NJ) decommitted from Rutgers last month, and he announced that Tennessee offered him a scholarship on Wednesday:
Beyond Blessed to receive an offer from The University of Tennessee#AllGloryToGod pic.twitter.com/Hl64BeNMnP
— John Lovett (@_jlovett7) December 21, 2016
Lovett has also received offers from Maryland, Michigan State and UConn since decommitting, though Rutgers is still believed to be the favorite to land him. The 6-foot-1, 195-pounder is ranked as the No. 62 athlete and No. 953 overall prospect in the country.
3-star DE commits
Three-star defensive end Matthew Butler (Garner, NC) announced that he has committed to Tennessee over Duke, NC State, Penn State, South Carolina and Texas A&M.
“Really, honestly, they’ve been my leader since the summer,” Butler told 247Sports’ Adam Rowe. “I’ve been on tons and tons and tons of college campuses, and I never, ever said under my breath or to myself at all, ‘This is the place I want to be.’
“But on my second visit to Tennessee, after being coached by (defensive line) coach (Steve) Stripling and seeing (head) coach (Butch) Jones speak to my parents and tell them what’s going on at Tennessee — he wasn’t, like, recruiting my parents. He was telling them what was going on at Tennessee. ‘Do you believe in me or not?’ is essentially what he was inferring with what he was saying. I said under my breath, ‘This is a place I could be.’
“And since that moment, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is probably the place I’m going to end up.’ So after all kinds of talks with my parents and other visits, there was no reason for me not to go to Tennessee. There was no factor in any other school that said, ‘Wow, I can’t go to Tennessee. I have to go here.’ But at Tennessee, there was.
“It was just something about Tennessee, just because of the coaching, the passion behind the coaching and just the way that he was just speaking to my parents that I appreciated. I didn’t commit right then. I put a whole lot of thought into it — really, like, five months of thought into it — and now I’m committing.”
The 6-foot-4, 265-pounder is ranked as the No. 34 DT and No. 440 overall prospect in the country.
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