Just an hour after his teammate committed to the Vols, Martavius French decided to join in on the fun.
Late Tuesday night, four-star inside linebacker Bryson Eason from Whitehaven High School in Memphis announced his commitment to the Vols via Twitter. Only an hour after that announcement, his teammate, fellow four-star inside linebacker Martavius French, also committed to UT.
All Praises to the most High?? I am Committed to The University of Tennessee #GoVols? pic.twitter.com/YIBV6EyIIy
— F R E N C H I E (@ypcjuice2) October 23, 2019
French had been committed to Arkansas since July 23rd of this year. But after taking an official visit to Fayetteville this past weekend, the four-star linebacker decided to decommit from the Hogs and announced he had re-opened his recruitment two days later.
Now, French has committed to the Vols.
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, the 6-foot-2, 240-pound linebacker is the No. 332 overall prospect, No. 15 inside linebacker, and No. 10 player in the state of Tennessee in the 2020 class. French holds offers from Oklahoma, Oregon, Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Missouri, and Ole Miss among others.
He, Eason, and three-star safety/linebacker Tamarion McDonald, all took official visits to see the Vols back on the weekend of October 4th when UT hosted Georgia. All three have been made priorities for the Vols over the last month, and now both French and Eason are committed to Tennessee.
McDonald tweeted out his decommitment from Mississippi State right at the same time Eason announced his commitment to UT on Tuesday.
As for French, he possesses extremely long arms and moves very well for his size. He’s a violent, physical tackler and makes his presence felt all across the field. French excels in run blocking and has very good vision. He has good hip movement, too. The big linebacker moves well laterally. Most of his highlights show him against running plays, so it remains to be seen what all he can do in pass coverage. But French moves well enough and has accumulated enough positive pass defense stats that it’s safe to assume he’s competent there. He’s another huge body along with Eason to fit inside UT’s linebacking corps.
In five recorded games of his senior season, French has 37 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, a sack, an interception, and a forced fumble according to MaxPreps. He made 81 stops, eight tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery as a junior for Whitehaven last year.
With French’s commitment, the Vols now have two inside linebackers committed in their 2020 class, with the other being Eason. Tennessee holds commitments from seven players inside their own state borders, and French is the 16th overall prospect to commit to UT in the 2020 cycle.
