One of the Vols’ top targets and one of the top athletes in the 2019 class is changing his plans slightly. And it could be big news for the Vols.
Quavaris Crouch, one of the highest-rated prospects in the 2019 recruiting cycle, will reportedly be signing and announcing his college decision today, December 21st, according to a report from Rivals.com. Crouch was originally planning on signing with a school this week but keeping it quiet until the All-American Bowl on January 5th.
Now, he’s changing things up.
Crouch will be signing with a school and making that signature a public announcement on live television. He will appear on WSOCTV local news in Charlotte at 6:30 PM Eastern to announce his college destination. Crouch is an early enrollee and will be on campus at the college of his choice in January.
It’s believed that Crouch will be choosing between Tennessee and Michigan, as long-time favorite Clemson appears to no longer be in the mix for Crouch’s services.
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Crouch said he got “butterflies” back when he visited Tennessee in March, and he took another visit to Knoxville in June. He watched the Vols play West Virginia in Charlotte, the town he’s from, for UT’s season opener this year, and he came back to Knoxville for an official visit for Tennessee’s game against Kentucky.
But it seemed like Crouch’s interest in playing for Tennessee started to wane as UT’s season went on. The consensus around Crouch was that he may not want to spend his collegiate career helping to rebuild a program like he did his high school team. That’s why Clemson seemed the more logical fit, and he was trending towards the Tigers for a while.
Then he took a surprise unofficial visit to Knoxville this past weekend, and everything changed.
Suddenly, recruiting analysts across the country began to change their predictions for Crouch, pegging him to Tennessee instead of Clemson. The former five-star athlete went from being a near-lock to Clemson to suddenly a favorite to head to Tennessee.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound athlete proved to be an dynamic running back for Harding High School, but he started to play both linebacker and running back his junior year. He showed exceptional skill as a linebacker, and it seems like that might be the position he’ll play in college. He ran for over 3,000 yards as a junior and totaled over a dozen sacks that same season. He got banged up his senior year and didn’t play very much, and that’s why he dropped a bit in recruiting rankings.
Crouch is rated as the No. 39 overall player and No. 2 athlete in the 2019 class. He’s the top player in the state of North Carolina.
We will provide a link to a live stream of his announcement as soon as one become available.
