2. Olaijah Griffin
Tennessee hasn’t added as many true five-star players to their roster in their last couple recruiting classes as they did in Butch Jones’ first few classes. And right now, the Vols don’t currently have a five-star in their 2018 class. That needs to change, and Olaijah Griffin is one of the most likely candidates to make that happen.
Griffin was recently given a five-star rating in the 247Sports Composite rankings, and he’s now the No. 3 cornerback in the 2018 class and the No. 28 overall player. Griffin was once committed to UCLA, but the Vols’ interest in him (coupled with interest by some other schools) led him to decommit back on December 30th.
Since then, Tennessee has been making a full court press to land him.
Griffin visited the Vols back on December 15th, and he’s received two in-home visits from Tennessee’s coaches as well. Terry Fair visited him on January 15th, and then Fair was joined by Pruitt and assistant Brian Niedermeyer for another visit on January 22nd.
The Vols appear to be one of the finalists for Griffin, which is great news for them. Alabama, USC, and Oregon are the other schools who remain in the running to land Griffin’s signature on National Signing Day. Tennessee needs someone with Griffin’s play-making ability and talent at corner, and they can’t afford him to go to a rival like Alabama. Losing him to a west coast team wouldn’t be as bad, but Griffin would be the gem of the Vols’ 2018 class if they can land him. And they need to make him one of their top priorities over the next week-plus.
