Signee: Len’Neth Whitehead, RB
Height/Weight: 6-foot-1, 235 pounds
School: Athens Academy (Georgia)
Home Town: Athens, GA
Rankings
247Sports Composite: No. 181 overall, No. 10 ILB
247Sports: No. 88 overall, No. 7 ILB
Rivals: 5.7 rating, No. 15 ATH
Notable Offers: Georgia, South Carolina, UCLA
What we like:
You want to talk about an impressive athlete, look no further than Len’Neth Whitehead. For someone his size, he has no business moving the way he does. He’s not lightning-fast, but for being 6-foot-1, 235 pounds, he moves a lot faster than I expected and is quite a bit shiftier than I anticipated, too. Whitehead has good footwork and is more than just a power back. But boy, is he a powerful runner. Whitehead isn’t easy to take down, and he just plows ahead like a freight train through tacklers. He is also useful in the passing game, which is an added benefit for a back with his size and strength. He reminds me of a shorter, slightly less athletic version of Jalen Hurd. He’s still athletic and has really good size, but Hurd was just on a different level in terms of athleticism and what he could do. Whitehead is very impressive, still.
Places to improve:
Unfortunately for Whitehead, he suffered a season-ending injury early in his senior season, so there’s concern there about how that could affect him moving forward. Pruitt didn’t seem too concerned about it, so I don’t anticipate it being too big of an issue. One thing I noticed about Whitehead’s film is that he needs to improve his ball security. There are multiple times where he’s not holding the ball high and tight like he should be. It didn’t get him in trouble a ton in high school, but it’ll cost him big time in college if he doesn’t work on that.
Analysis:
As long as he’s recovered enough from his injury, I don’t see how Whitehead doesn’t have a role on offense for the Vols in some way this upcoming season. Tennessee had to use Quavaris Crouch in short yardage situations this season because they didn’t have a true power back on their roster. Now, they do, and Whitehead is more than just that. He’s not going to be the most dynamic running back on the roster, but he’s more agile than you first expect, and he’ll get some tough yards when asked.
