1. Chris Akporoghene, OT
Star Rating: 3-star
Overall: 872nd
Position: 71st
Height/Weight: 6-foot-4, 294 pounds
A lot of the attention in Tennessee’s 2019 class is getting paid to five-stars Darnell Wright and Wanya Morris. Vol fans and analysts alike are expecting those two to come in and potentially be true freshmen starters for Tennessee in 2019.
But I’m here to tell you that one of Tennessee’s other 2019 offensive line prospects has maybe just as much potential as those two.
Four years ago, Chris Akporoghene was trying out American football for the first time. He came to Tennessee to play and learn at The King’s Academy in Seymour, and he was extremely, extremely raw. He didn’t even know how to properly put on pads and a helmet.
But within four years and a transfer down to IMG Academy, Akporoghene was good enough to catch the attention of top flight programs like Texas, Oregon, and Michigan.
I got to speak with Akporoghene’s former head coach at TKA, Matt Lowe, about what kind of player Tennessee is getting back when he committed, and Lowe essentially told me that nobody at Tennessee is going to outwork Chris. He would show up at 6:30 or 7:00 AM for 8:00 AM workouts,
“The great thing about Chris is he’s very devoted to his craft and very devoted to learning,” Lowe told me. “Whether that’s in the classroom or some of the social things or the game of football, he’s very devoted to learning. He’s a perfectionist. He wants to get things right and get them mastered. … He’s one of those young men who will go out there and work the entire practice, then when practice is over he’s off working on his own.
“There’s always something that he’s going to do after a practice.”
Not only that, but Lowe said that he’s never coached a player who watches as much film as Akporoghene does.
“He watches more video than any kid I think I’ve been around,” Lowe added. “It’s not just critiquing himself as much as it is watching some of the best players in the game, the best offensive tackles at the collegiate and professional level and the guards and the way they use their bodies and explode off the line of scrimmage. He tries to replicate what some of those other guys are doing and trying to use those same drills he sees other people doing at his position so that he can see exactly how good he can become.”
And he was doing all that while he was in East Tennessee still. He only further improved on himself and his play while at IMG Academy.
Akporoghene has reportedly already been killing it in the weight room at UT as an early enrollee, and that doesn’t surprise me one bit. I don’t think he’ll be starting as a true freshman, because there are some techniques and finer details he still needs to work on. But I think his potential is absolutely immense, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s starting for Tennessee sooner rather than later.
