Take Two: Will Vols focus more in-state in Year 2 under Pruitt?

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

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 a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

Tennessee signed only four in-state players in its 2019 recruiting class as coach Jeremy Pruitt and his staff were slow to seriously recruit some prospects and decided to pass on some others.

None of the top nine prospects in the state signed with the Vols for the first time in Rivals.com history dating back to 2002. Many of those players headed to other SEC teams, but Tennessee still finished with the No. 12 class nationally.

The last time the Vols signed the top three in-state players was back in the 2014 and 2015 recruiting classes. Since that time, four-star Dillon Mitchell went to Oregon, five-star Tee Higgins went to Clemson and five-star defensive players Jacoby Stevens and Jacob Phillips headed to LSU among others. A lot of in-state talent has left and produced in a big way.

In-state recruiting for the Vols should be ramped up in a big way for the 2020 class. Pruitt and his staff have targeted elite talent in the state and made recruiting hotbeds a bigger priority. Five-star linebacker Reggie Grimes is a top target, but there are many others in a state that continues to pump out more and more talent.

Can Tennessee start recruiting in the state much better and be more productive or will that continue not to be a major focus of the Vols’ recruiting strategy?

“Unlike a year ago, Tennessee does have a vested interest in keeping as many players at home from the Volunteer State in the 2020 class. While the staff believed some of the in-state prospects from 2019 were a bit overvalued, they’re hitting Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville hard this year. Yes, they have been a bit slower to offer some kids compared to out-of-state schools like Ohio State, Clemson and others. But that’s largely a by-product of Tennessee being sure their evaluations are correct on in-state guys who are likely to pull the trigger.

“Among those who are high priorities for the staff in 2020 include Grimes, Jay Hardy, Tyler Baron, Cooper Mays, Chris Morris, Omari Thomas and Keshawn Lawrence.”

“You have to start in your state first and then branch out nationally. Last year, Tennessee was a little gun shy or late in really approaching some of the top players in-state. They weren’t sure if they were sold on them, some of them they wanted to see at camp in the summer and by then, you could really lose a lead for a kid if you wait that long.

“They’ve done a better job with this in-state group of recruiting and making a priority. So I think you’ll see more Tennessee kids stay home and it’s extremely important for Tennessee to keep kids home because that state has been one of the fastest-rising states for talent in the country.”