As football season quickly approaches, Tennessee football’s 2024 recruiting class is in a good spot. Josh Heupel’s fourth recruiting class in Knoxville contains 19 commits, 14 blue-chips, and sits right outside the nation’s top 10 according to the 247sports team rankings.
But one area of weakness is defensive line. Tennessee has just three defensive line commits and only one four-star (Kellen Lindstrom). The Vols failed to land a number of their top targets at the position including Kameryn Fountain and Williams Nwaneri.
However, there’s still time for Tennessee to salvage its defensive line class and the next five days will be extremely pivotal in doing so.
Two top 50 recruits — defensive tackle Kamarion Franklin and edge rusher Jordan Ross — are announcing their college commitments in the next week.
Franklin, a Lake Cormorant, Mississippi native, is announcing his college commitment on Saturday, August 19 and is deciding between a top group that includes Auburn, Florida State, Miami, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
The 6-foot-5, 265-pound lineman ranks as the No. 45 player in the country and top prep prospect in Mississippi according to the 247sports composite rankings.
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Tennessee has long been one of the top contenders in Franklin’s recruitment with the blue-chip prospect visiting Knoxville six times during his recruitment. However, Hugh Freeze and Auburn have made a major push since Franklin took a late July visit to Auburn.
The Tigers are the favorites to land Franklin according to both 247sports crystal ball and the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine.
Ross is announcing his college commitment Monday, August 21 and is deciding between a top group that includes Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and Texas.
The Vestavia Hills, Alabama edge rusher is the second highest rated four-star in the entire class, coming in as the the No. 36 player in the country, the No. 4 EDGE rusher in the country, and the No. 5 player from the state of Alabama according to the 247sports composite rankings.
Like Franklin, Ross has frequently visited Knoxville during his recruitment. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound edge rusher’s June official visit to Tennessee marked his fifth recruiting trip to Tennessee.
There are no crystal ball predictions in for Ross but the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine gives Tennessee a slight edge to land the blue-chip prospect.
Tennessee’s 2024 defensive line recruiting class isn’t currently up to the high standard defensive line coach Rodney Garner creates, but the next five days could go a long way to changing that.
