The Vols didn’t pick up any public commitments this weekend during or after the Orange & White Game, but they’ve made progress with some of their top targets in the 2019 class after those players visited this weekend.
A four-star wide receiver said this weekend that he would be choosing between Tennessee and Auburn “soon,” and another four-star just named the Vols as one his two leaders in his recruitment.
Jaydon Hill, a highly-rated cornerback out of Madison, Alabama, recently told 247Sports that the Vols are one of his two favorites moving forward. Tennessee and South Carolina are now his favorites, and the Vols join the Gamecocks after months of South Carolina being perceived as the favorites for him and after Hill named the Gamecocks as his favorite just earlier this month.
Tennessee offered Hill on March 30th, and Hill named South Carolina as his favorite on April 10th. But the Vols have made up a ton of ground since then, apparently.
“I felt the love, a lot of fan love,” Hill told John Garcia Jr. of 247Sports about his visit to Tennessee this past weekend. “It was real nice, the love there.”
Two players on Tennessee’s roster, linebacker Will Ignont and defensive lineman Maurese Smith, have connections to Hill. Both are Alabama natives, and Ignont has known Hill since Ignont’s sophomore year of high school.
Hill is rated as a four-star and the No. 290 overall player and No. 25 corner in the 2019 class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. The regular 247Sports rankings think even higher of him, ranking him as the 127th-best player in the class and the No. 12 cornerback. He recently picked up an offer from Texas A&M last week, and he holds other offers from TCU, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Duke, and more.
Another thing to note about the 6-foot, 175 pound corner is that he’s friends with four-star point guard Kira Lewis out of Hazel Green, Alabama. Lewis is one of the basketball Vols’ top targets in the 2019 class.
Hill’s speed immediately stands out on his highlight film. He’s extremely quick and can cover a lot of ground in an instant. As a corner, he plays some solid zone coverage and is pretty good in man-to-man coverage too. His film doesn’t show him playing a lot of press coverage, so that might be something he needs to improve on. But he has some very good ball skills and awareness, and he’s not afraid to be physical down the field with receivers. He can also hit pretty hard.
The Vols will need to add a handful of talented corners in their 2019 class, and Hill isn’t the only one they’re targeting in this cycle. But expect Tennessee’s coaches to pursue Hill hard, and the talented corner is expected to make a college decision before the season begins later this year.
