Offensive line was a huge priority for the Vols in their 2019 recruiting class, and it’ll be another big area of emphasis in their 2020 class as well. Tennessee is in a good spot with a number of offensive linemen in this cycle, and one of the top centers in the 2020 class has included the Vols among his list of top schools.
Sedrick Van Pran is a four-star center/defensive tackle who plays for Warren Easton in New Orleans, Louisiana. On Wednesday, he tweeted out a video listing the top eight teams in his recruitment. The Vols were among those eight programs and were joined by LSU, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Alabama.
First Off #Top8 pic.twitter.com/SjEG5NbZQk
— Sedrick Van Pran (@LXIII_NOVA) May 22, 2019
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Van Pran is the No. 118 overall prospect and No. 3 center in the 2020 recruiting cycle. He holds nearly two dozen scholarship offers, so trimming down his list of schools to just eight is a big cut.
The 6-foot-4, 305-pound lineman picked up an offer from the Vols back in September of 2018, but he’s yet to take a visit to UT’s campus. He visited Alabama’s campus for a Junior Day event in mid-February and has already taken an official visit to Oklahoma back in April.
Van Pran is an extremely aggressive blocker. He flattens multiple defenders on his highlight film, and he’s a force when blocking in the run game. Van Pran is definitely a road grader and has elite physicality. He’s very agile for his size and doesn’t look to have a lot of bad weight on him. The only major downside to his film is that there isn’t a lot of clips of him pass blocking, so that may be a weakness of his. Van Pran is an exceptional run blocker, though.
Tennessee has a huge need for help at the center position moving forward, and Van Pran and four-star, in-state lineman Cooper Mays are the Vols’ top targets at that position in the 2020 class.
Right now, the Vols appear to be behind in the race for Van Pran’s services, but there’s plenty of time to make up ground. Getting Van Pran on campus would be a big step in the right direction, and expect UT to push for that in the coming months.
