Take Two: Can Tennessee reverse Bama's momentum with Grimes?

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

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Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling an issue in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and an expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites or a regional analyst.

Reggie Grimes is an Alabama legacy. His father played football for the Crimson Tide and his mother ran track in Tuscaloosa.

But the five-star linebacker is also the top-ranked player in the state of Tennessee and there’s no question the Volunteers are doing everything possible to keep the Mt. Juliet standout close to home to play in Knoxville.

Even though Alabama is a border state and the Crimson Tide have had incredible success in the SEC and winning national championships under coach Nick Saban, Alabama has not had much five-star success in the state of Tennessee.

The Volunteers have done a great job with in-state five-stars but not recently as the last four No. 1 players in the state - Dillon Mitchell, Tee Higgins, Cade Mays and Woodi Washington - all left the state to play college football. The last four five-stars have also gone elsewhere.

Can Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt reverse that disturbing trend in recent years by landing Grimes, ranked as the fourth-best outside linebacker in the 2020 class, or does Alabama have too much family history and success behind it?

“His family wants him to make his own decision. Both of his parents were athletes at Alabama. He’s been an Alabama fan his whole life. He’s also been recruited by Alabama, it’s not one of those things where Alabama just started recruiting him over the last few months. They’ve been recruiting him for the last two years. He’s been going to camps and building relationships and being one of the top athletes in the country, Alabama wants to get him.

“He was at Alabama’s spring game instead of Tennessee’s spring game. Some people think it might come down to Alabama and Tennessee. This may give a little bit of an indication on which way he might be leaning but you never know. Alabama is probably in the driver’s seat for him at this time.”

“This is one where the legacy factor plays heavily. Like with Ben Davis, who hasn’t panned out yet, they look at other schools, they like other schools, they say there’s no leader but you always have to put down Alabama at least in pencil for a legacy.

“Tennessee could steal him and stealing is definitely the appropriate term because he’s an Alabama legacy. Everybody thinks he’s going to end up at Alabama and I’d be really surprised if he goes elsewhere.”