It’s early summertime, which means it’s camp season for college football. College football programs across the country are hosting football camps every weekend during the month of June and beyond, and Tennessee is no exception.
The Vols have already hosted a camp for prospects to attend last weekend, and Tennessee’s coaches are holding another set of camps starting this Thursday and running through the weekend. Today, a trio of highly-rated prospects are in Knoxville to camp in front of UT’s coaches, and they’re headlined by an Alabama commit.
Four-star wide receiver and Alabama commit Javon Baker, four-star receiver Rico Powers Jr., and four-star athlete Eric Shaw have all tweeted out on Thursday that they’re in Knoxville. Both Baker and Powers are from Georgia, and Shaw hails from Alabama.
University of Tennessee ?
— 7 (@javondbaker7) June 6, 2019
Tennessee ?
— 1️⃣boyreek (@RicoPowers1) June 6, 2019
?? #GoVols
— E. S H A W ⁶ (@treyshaw_3) June 6, 2019
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Baker committed to Alabama back on November 25th of 2018, but that commitment hasn’t stopped him from taking visits to other schools, most notably Georgia Tech. He’s visited the Yellow Jackets three different times in 2019, picking up an offer from them on his first visit on January 19th. He also visited Alabama on January 25th. This will be his first time visiting Tennessee.
Baker is rated as the No. 173 overall prospect, No. 33 wide receiver, and No. 18 player in the state of Georgia according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. He plays for McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Georgia.
At a regional camp for Nike’s The Opening back in March, Baker was timed running a 4.75-second 40-yard dash and a 4.34-second shuttle. He also had a 35.4-inch vertical leap. He’s been invited to The Opening Finals as well.
Rico Powers is from Savannah, Georgia and plays for Jenkins High School. He transferred to Jenkins recently after playing for Benedictine Military School the last couple years. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound receiver is also making his first trip to Knoxville, and he picked up an offer from the Vols in February of 2018. He also holds offers from Georgia, Auburn, Oregon, South Carolina, Michigan State, Nebraska, UCF, and others.
Powers is rated as the No. 216 overall player, No. 40 receiver, and No. 22 player in the state of Georgia per the 247Sports Composite rankings.
At a regional camp for Nike’s The Opening in April, Powers ran a 4.6-second 40-yard dash and a 4.21-second shuttle. He also showed off a nearly 37-inch vertical.
In his junior season at Benedictine Military School, Powers caught 28 passes for 561 yards and six touchdowns according to MaxPreps. He also ran the ball 115 times for 1,006 yards and 17 scores.
As for Eric Shaw, he comes from Notasulga, Alabama and plays for Reeltown High School. He’s just outside of four-star range in the 247Sports Composite rankings, but the regular 247Sports ratings have him as a four-star, putting him at No. 301 overall, the No. 16 athlete, and No. 14 prospect in Alabama.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound athlete also plays basketball for Reeltown. On the football field, he plays wide receiver, H-back, and linebacker for Reeltown. Shaw was on his way to a memorable season in 2018 before he tore his ACL just six games into his junior campaign.
In just six games before his torn ACL, Shaw totaled 60 tackles, seven tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery on defense. On offense, Shaw had 11 carries for 248 yards and three touchdowns and caught six passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns. He was also named to the second-team offense of the Opelika-Auburn News All-Area Offensive Team for smaller schools in the area despite missing time with the torn ACL.
Tennessee offered Shaw back on May 8th of this year, and this is his first visit to Knoxville. The talented athlete recently visited Auburn and LSU, and he has an official visit planned to South Carolina in a week. He holds offers from Auburn, Florida, LSU, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Virginia Tech, and others.
The Vols have many other prospects already in town or planning on coming to Knoxville this weekend. Three-star Ohio athlete Mordecai McDaniel will be in town on an official visit, and highly-rated 2020 quarterback Haynes King will also be on UT’s campus for an official visit.
