Tennessee’s unbelievable recruiting momentum continued on Sunday. Just a couple hours after the Vols picked up a commitment from four-star outside linebacker Aaron Willis, one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the 2021 cycle also committed to UT.
Kaidon Salter, a four-star QB who plays for Cedar Hill High School in Cedar Hill, Texas, announced his commitment to the Vols on Sunday, giving Tennessee their second commitment of the day and their third of the weekend.
Cool, Calm, Collected, and Commited #7UP
?: @jetervideovault pic.twitter.com/9H5S67Qshp
— ksalt (@KaidonSalter_7) May 10, 2020
According to 247Sports, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound quarterback is the No. 88 overall prospect, No. 4 dual-threat quarterback, and No. 12 recruit in Texas. The composite rankings list him as the No. 280 overall recruit and 10th-best dual-threat QB.
Salter chose the Vols over his other two finalists of Auburn and Baylor. He also holds offers from Michigan State, Houston, Louisville, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Purdue, UCLA, and others.
The Vols were lucky that they got Salter’s final visit before the COVID-19 outbreak shut down recruiting visits for the foreseeable future. Salter attended Tennessee’s second day of spring practice on Thursday, March 12th, capping off a week of visits for the four-star signal caller.
After his visit, Salter spoke with RTI about his trip to Knoxville and why the Vols stood out to him.
“We did so much on Tennessee day,” Salter said. “I got there around eight o’clock and didn’t leave until probably five o’clock. We did a campus tour, we saw everything around the campus, and did stadium tours. They showed us all the academics, all the pictures.
“Everything about Tennessee, I love Tennessee. Watching them practice was great because I got to watch how the coaches practice with them.”
The fact that Tennessee has a dedicated quarterbacks coach who isn’t the offensive coordinator made the Vols appealing to Salter. Getting to spend one-on-one time with QB coach Chris Weinke is valuable to the four-star signal caller.
“They have a quarterback coach and an offensive coordinator. The offensive coordinator watches the quarterbacks, but the quarterback coach, that’s good seeing the one-on-one time with the quarterback coach and the quarterbacks,” Salter explained. “I got to sit down and talk mostly to Coach Weinke, Coach Pruitt, and Coach Chaney. Those are the main three coaches I talked to. We had nice conversations, talking about school and things like that.”
Not only is Salter a standout on the football field, but he also competes in track at Cedar Hill.
Salter boasts a 47-6 in the triple jump and a long jump of 22-10 from this past season, further showing off his explosiveness as an athlete.
Salter has a great deal of skill as both a passer and a runner. He can launch the ball down the field with accuracy, and he has good zip on his passes. Salter moves really well in the pocket and has good awareness. As a runner, he’s smooth and glides down the field as he picks up yards. He has decent burst and is shifty enough to escape defenders. He looks to throw before deciding to run, but he’s definitely a capable ball carrier and can pick up chunks of yards.
As a junior last season, Salter was named the District 7-6A MVP as he led Cedar Hill to the second round of the 6A D-II playoffs. Salter completed 60.8 percent of his 245 pass attempts for 2,550 yards, 28 touchdowns, and just six interceptions as a junior while also running for 616 yards and 10 scores on 100 carries.
After football is over, Salter wants to pursue a coaching career. He believes Tennessee can help him do that.
“I want to be a coach when I grow up, so I just want to be around football,” Salter said about what he wants in a school after his visit to UT in March. “Being able to get a job when I leave football. If I don’t make it to the league, being able to come back and get a job because of the degrees I have.”
The Vols now have 21 commitments in their 2021 class, and they’ve picked up over half of those (11) over the last 15 days. Salter is Tennessee’s lone QB commit in the class.
