The Tennessee Vols Continue Their Hot Recruiting Trail
The Tennessee Volunteers added to their already stacked 2023 recruiting class over the weekend. July 10, they landed five-star edge rusher Chandavian Bradley and three-star linebacker Jalen Smith.
Bradley is a 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pound edge rusher from Platte City, Missouri. He chose the Vols over Texas A&M and South Carolina.
247Sports lists Bradley as the number five edge rusher in his class and the number 36 recruit in the 247Sports Composite. He is the number one recruit in Missouri.
247Sports scouting report:
“Long, athletic defender that has high upside but is still early in his development. Athletic background includes basketball and track. Has twitch, gets off the ball quickly and closes to his target in a hurry. He is fluid and able to bend and dip and make offensive linemen miss their punch on him. Has played standing up and could continue to do that in college. Shows he can drop into coverage when asked to do that. 3-4 outside linebacker or weakside 4-3 end are most likely projections.”
- Allen Trieu, National Recruiting Analyst
Jalen Smith is a 6-foot, 213-pound linebacker out of Grayson High School in Loganville, Georgia. He is listed as the number 40 linebacker in the 2023 class and chose the Vols over Virginia.
Tennessee also added two more four-star recruits from earlier in the weekend.
Four-star athlete Cameron Seldon, out of Northumberland High School in Heathsville, VA, committed, July 7 and has drawn comparisons to NFL star Deebo Samuel.
Seldon is the number seven athlete in the 2023 class. The 6-foot-1-inch, 220-pound athlete took snaps at wide receiver, quarterback, and running back in high school. Seldon has blazing speed and is the Class 1A state champion in Virginia for the 100-meter dash. He ran a 10.74 in the event.
247Sports Scouting Report:
“Explosive in open field with high-level speed to finish plays in open field. Takes snaps at running back, quarterback, and receiver on offense. Smooth athlete with the ability to churn out YAC. Good ball skills. Gets off the line of scrimmage well and quickly gets into route. Comfortable playing in traffic. Has speed to get behind the defense. Demonstrates ability to close on the ball in the air. Willing to be physical at the top of routes and in challenging for 50-50 balls. Change of direction, burst and short-area quickness shows best when playing edge or blitzing as linebacker.”
- Brian Dohn, National Recruiting Analyst
Four-star offensive lineman Shamurad Umarov, out of Denmark High School in Alpharetta, GA, committed, July 8. Umarov has the ideal frame for a left tackle at 6-foot-6-inch, 337-pounds. He is the number 19 offensive tackle in the 2023 class and the number 204 recruit nationally.
247Sports Scouting Report:
“Exhibits good knee bend and hip flexibility in his pass and run set. Shows the ability to fire off the ball, and flashes good foot and body quickness. Appears to have good foot speed and lateral quickness in his pass-set. Demonstrates the ability to anchor at the point of attack, will need to continue to add muscle and improve play strength at the next level. Shows the ability to move defenders off the point of attack in the run game. Plays with a very good understanding of leverage and body control. Good athlete that can play in space at the second level and redirect. Flashes some nastiness with his ability to finish blocks.”
- Cooper Petagna, National Recruiting Analyst
Tennessee is now up to 18 commitments for the 2023 class. Six of those have come in the last 10 days.
Four of those recruits are in the TOP247 top 50. This is the first time since 2007 that the Vols have had four top 50 prospects.
The Vols now hold the number five recruiting class in the nation and the number one class in the SEC, according to 247Sports.