Four-star quarterback Jake Merklinger will announce his college commitment this Thursday, the Georgia native announced Tuesday morning.
Merklinger is deciding between a top four of Georgia, Michigan State, North Carolina and Tennessee. The four-star recruit announced his imminent commitment date coming off a weekend unofficial visit to Tennessee. Merklinger took in a Tennessee spring practice and also went to Vol baseball’s series opening against Texas A&M Friday night.
@Vol_Baseball @coachjoshheupel @Coach_Merk pic.twitter.com/7GZ1p65RV2
— Jake Merklinger (@JakeMerklinger) March 25, 2023
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound signal caller is one of the top quarterbacks in the country, ranking as the nation’s No. 55 player and No. 6 quarterback according to the 247sports composite rankings.
A Savannah, Georgia native, Merklinger attends Calvary Day School and ranks as the ninth best player in the Peach State.
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Merklinger’s visit to Tennessee last weekend was his first trip to Knoxville in 2023 but wasn’t his first Tennessee visit. The blue-chip recruit visited Tennessee four times in 2022 including for the Alabama and Kentucky games in the fall.
The tall quarterback has been on an abundance of recruiting visits, seeing Michigan State three times in 2022 and once earlier this month. Merklinger made a pair of visits to home state school Georgia in 2022 and another earlier this month.
North Carolina became a late player in Merklinger’s recruitment, hosting him on a pair of visits earlier this year.
Tennessee currently has five commitments in the 2024 recruiting class but none are quarterbacks. After signing five-star Nico Iamaleava in the 2023 cycle, the Vols targeted Merklinger as one of their top quarterback targets in the 2024 recruiting class.
247sports recruiting expert Steve Wiltfong put a crystal ball prediction for Merklinger to Tennessee Monday afternoon.
The Vols’ five-commit recruiting class ranks No. 12 nationally according to the 247sports team rankings. Merklinger committing to Tennessee would propel the Vols to the No. 6 ranked class nationally.
