Tennessee top five for Tucky

Delaware (Ohio) Rutherford B. Hayes linebacker Ethan Tucky has been a hot name in the 2016 class over the last couple months. Tennessee was in on him before his recruitment took off and the sophomore paid them another visit last weekend.

"They were actually the first school to invite me to a game and they invited me to this junior day back in December," Tucky said. "They stood out because they seem very open and really want to have me out there."

Tucky did make a visit to Knoxville last fall to see the Volunteers host Auburn and said that experience opened his eyes to the fan support for the program. His most recent trip gave him more of a sense of the finer points about the program.

"They have really, really nice facilities and they are going to put in a food program there that will be crazy," Tucky said. "It was a little bit of a drive, but totally worth it."

This past weekend's trip also gave Tucky a better sense of how the coaching staff assesses him as a prospect.

"Coach [Mark] Elder, me and him actually talked a lot," Tucky said. "Then, right before I left, the director of football operations talked to me about how he saw me recruiting-wise. He said they really, really liked my speed and loved my toughness, but just wanted to see me play more outside linebacker because last year I did a lot of d-end."

Eastern Michigan started the offer wave for Tucky earlier this winter and schools from several conferences are showing interest, but coming off this weekend's trip Tennessee is among his early favorites.

"They are definitely in my top five," Tucky said. "I just really like the coaching staff, also the football environment down there and their program is coming up in the SEC."

Tucky is already making his summer camp plans, and expects to attend one-days at Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Illinois, Notre Dame and possibly Michigan.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Tucky is currently wrapping up winter track, where he has the second-best time of all sophomores in the state of Ohio for the 60-meter.