Mississippi athlete Jimmy Holiday is scheduled to sign with his college of choice at 9:00 AM Eastern on Wednesday during the first day of the early signing period. And right now, the Vols appear to have all the momentum heading into that announcement.
Holiday is currently committed to TCU and has been pledged to the Horned Frogs since August. But Tennessee’s coaching staff has never stopped pursuing Holiday, and he came to Knoxville on an official visit for the Vols’ match-up with South Carolina in late October. UT’s coaches also took a visit down to Mississippi to see Holiday earlier this month.
Despite his commitment to TCU and growing interest from Florida State and others, Holiday appears to be leaning towards the Vols ahead of his Wednesday announcement.
The Madison Central High School standout has received five separate “crystal ball” predictions in favor of the Vols since Monday of this week, including one from Ryan Callahan, one of the chief writers and recruiting insiders for Tennessee’s 247Sports site. Demetric Warren of the Ole Miss 247Sports site, Steve Robertson of the Mississippi State 247Sports site, and Jeremy Clark of the TCU 247Sports site have all logged predictions of Holiday flipping from the Horned Frogs to the Vols as well. Steve Wiltfong, the Director of Football Recruiting for 247Sports, also put in a crystal ball prediction in favor of Tennessee.
The 6-foot, 185-pound athlete from Mississippi is considered one of the more intriguing athletes in the 2020 cycle. He plays quarterback for Madison Central, but it’s likely he projects more as a wide receiver or some other skill position in college.
But there’s also a chance he could take a role akin to what Lynn Bowden Jr. did this past year at Kentucky where he can play wildcat quarterback and also be used in a variety of ways as an offensive weapon.
Holiday was timed running a 4.38-second 40-yard dash at a regional camp for Nike’s The Opening back in March, and he just participated in the Alabama-Mississippi State All-Star Game over the weekend.
In his senior year with Madison Central, Holiday completed 94 of his 148 passes for 1,020 yards, nine touchdowns, and four interceptions as a quarterback while also running for 1,401 yards and 21 touchdowns in 11 games according to MaxPreps. In 38 recorded games in high school, Holiday threw for 3,507 yards, 37 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions while racking up 3,568 rushing yards and 51 scores.
It’s expected that if he does flip to Tennessee, Holiday will get a shot at quarterback, but he may ultimately move to another position.
Right now, Holiday is just the No. 789 overall prospect and No. 46 athlete in the 2020 class per the 247Sports Composite rankings, but 247Sports hasn’t evaluated him since March of this year. That’s why his rating is currently No. 1,403 overall in the regular 247Sports rating.
On Rivals, Holiday has a 5.7 rating and is the No. 27 athlete in the 2020 class.
Holiday is scheduled to announce where he’ll be signing at 8:00 AM in Mississippi, which means it’ll be 9:00 AM Eastern. You can check out the full schedule of when Tennessee’s targets and commits are set to sign on Wednesday here.
