Tennessee signed the vast majority of their commitments in their 2019 class during the first day of the early signing period on Wednesday. But one of their commits elected to go to another in-state school for college.
Three-star defensive end Jalil Clemons out of Starkville, Mississippi ended up flipping his commitment from the Vols to the Memphis Tigers and signed with the Tigers on Wednesday. Clemons had been committed to the Vols since the summer.
After being committed to Tennessee since June, three-star DE Jalil Clemons flipped and signed to Memphis in the Early Signing Period.
Huge get for head coach Mike Norvell and his staff. Clemons is now Memphis’s highest ranked recruit in the 2019 class. https://t.co/2Ytnu1unCH
— Christian Fowler (@C_Fowler14) December 19, 2018
The move doesn’t come as a huge surprise to Tennessee. The consensus from those covering Tennessee’s recruiting seemed to believe that Clemons wouldn’t be a part of the Vols’ 2019 class one way or another. Clemons ended up taking matters into his own hands rather than waiting around for a decision to be made for him, and he took his services to Memphis.
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Clemons is the No. 545 overall player and No. 38 strong-side defensive end in the 2019 class.
Tennessee signed 17 prospects during the first day of the early signing period, and that includes 16 of the 20 recruits who were committed to them before the beginning of the day. The only other commits who didn’t sign with UT aside from Clemons were four-star safety Anthony Harris, four-star JUCO linebacker Lakia Henry, and three-star defensive tackle LeDarrius Cox.
Harris and Cox are still expected to sign with the Vols come February of 2019, but Henry has started to get looks from other schools, most notably Arkansas and Florida State.
As of now, Memphis has signed 12 players in their 2019 class. Clemons is the highest-rated player to sign with Memphis in their 2019 class as of now according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
