Versatile, two-way athletes are some of the more intriguing prospects in any given recruiting cycle. And the Vols just sent out an offer to one of the more interesting and explosive athletes in the 2020 class.
Jaden Navarrette is a four-star athlete who plays for Norco High School in Norco, California. He’s had a busy month of February, and he just recently added an offer from Tennessee to go along with several others.
Very excited to be able to receive an offer from the university of Tennessee? @NiedermeyerB #2THETOP #PowerdBytheT @johnnyurrutia11 ⚪️?⚪️? @Vol_Football @UTVolRecruiting pic.twitter.com/ikZwVIAAAW
— Jaden J Navarrette (@jadennavarrette) February 22, 2019
Navarrette is rated as the No. 173 overall player and No. 13 athlete in the 2020 class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. He’s added offers from Georgia and LSU in February to go along with offers he already had from USC, Oregon, Michigan, and others. Brian Niedermeyer and Tee Martin are the recruiters for Navarrette on UT’s staff.
We spoke with Jaden Navarrette about his offer from the Vols, and you can hear that full interview by becoming a member of RTI Premium today!
Right now, the 6-foot-3, 235-pound athlete doesn’t have a true position he’ll play in college. That’s what makes him so intriguing.
At Norco, Navarette has played defensive end and outside linebacker on defense, and he’s been a wide receiver and tight end on offense. Not only does he play all those positions, but he’s highly effective at all of them. He was an all-state performer for his junior season at Norco.
Navarrette is also teammates with four-star, pro-style quarterback Shane Illingworth at Norco. Illingworth is the No. 7 pro-style QB in the 2020 cycle
The two-way athlete is an explosive player on both sides of the ball. He’s a very good speed rusher on defense who disrupts plays time and time again, and he’s hard for offensive linemen to block unless they get a good first step. On offense, Navarrette is extremely versatile. He has the hands of a wide receiver and good speed (especially for his size) to go along with that. But he’s also effective at blocking and has a really good foundation there as well. He still has some technique things to clean up on defense and will need to learn some more nuances of blocking and running routes on offense, but he has clear skill and should be good at any position he plays. It’ll be interesting to see what position he ends up playing at the next level.
According to MaxPreps, Navarrette totaled 670 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 37 receptions while getting a couple sacks and a fumble recovery on defense as a junior.
Tennessee needs help at receiver/tight end on offense in the 2020 cycle, and they need help at edge rusher as well. So whatever position Navarrette ends up playing in college will be a benefit for the Vols. Expect to see Navarrette heading over to Knoxville sometime in the near future, and expect Tennessee to make him a priority if they like how he develops.
