(Photo via Joseph’s Twitter account)RTI recruiting contributor Landon Steffy is the author of this article
Just because a player is committed to another school doesn’t mean his recruitment is shut down, and the Vols are trying to prove just that with one of their latest offers.
Per his Twitter account, Tennessee has offered three-star defensive end Morven Joseph out of Lakeland, Florida. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound defender plays for Lake Gibson High School and is currently committed to SEC East rival Florida. But that isn’t stopping other schools from recruiting him, and the Vols sent out an offer to him this week.
Extremely Blessed to receive an offer from University of Tennessee ?#Vols #BOE pic.twitter.com/kZF6fXNgfw
— Morven Joseph ? (@MorvenJoseph) May 1, 2019
Joseph is currently ranked as the No. 461 overall prospect and No. 16 weak-side defensive end in the 2020 recruiting class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. Don’t let his rankings fool you, though. Joseph has numerous offers from top programs such as Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Miami, and West Virginia among several others.
The talented defensive end picked up an offer from Florida back on January 24th, attended a Junior Day event on campus on February 2nd, then announced his commitment to the Gators on February 15th. His recruitment hasn’t slowed down any since then, though, as he’s taken visits to Georgia, UCF, Virginia, and Florida State since committing to Florida and has picked up a few more offers as well.
Joseph has incredible get-off from the ball, often getting by his man before he has time to get out of his stance. Several plays stand out on his film that show off his burst. When he lines up at his defensive end, he’s often in the backfield untouched after the snap. Joseph is capable of going outside the lineman or taking the inside gap to make the tackle in the backfield. He also has great speed for his size. He will likely have to put on weight if wants to play in the SEC with his hand in the dirt, but as a raw high school defensive end, he has all the traits. He could fit well as an outside linebacker in a 3-4 defensive scheme as well.
As a junior for the Lake Gibson Braves, Joseph racked up an impressive stat line, tallying 62 tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, and four forced fumbles according to MaxPreps.
While Joseph has not visited Tennessee, it will interesting to see if this staff can get him on campus for a visit any time soon. If they do, this will be a recruitment to watch.
