Yesterday, Tennessee quarterback signee Harrison Bailey picked up his fifth star when Rivals.com updated their top 100 prospects in the 2020 class. On Wednesday, Rivals updated their top 250 prospects in the 2020 cycle, and several of UT’s other signees got a significant boost in the process.
According to the finalized Rivals top 250, the Vols signed eight prospects ranked inside the top 250 prospects in the 2020 class back in December. Keshawn Lawrence, Tyler Baron, Omari Thomas, Martavius French, Jimmy Calloway, Jalin Hyatt, and Bryson Eason are all four-stars and all rank inside the top 250 on Rivals now.
Hyatt by far saw the biggest jump. The speedy wide receiver wasn’t rated at all by Rivals, earning a three-star placeholder. On Wednesday, he leaped into the top-200 prospects, coming in at No. 197 overall and ranking 49th among wide receivers. The speedster who played for Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, South Carolina finished his senior season with 66 catches for 1,361 yards and 26 touchdowns. He also ran for 59 yards on nine carries and threw a touchdown. Hyatt broke several single-season and career receiving records at Dutch Fork this season, finishing his career with 180 catches for over 3,600 receiving yards and 57 touchdowns.
Briarcrest Christian defensive tackle Omari Thomas saw the second-biggest jump among UT’s signees, vaulting up 32 spots to No. 110 overall. The 6-foot-4, 315-pound defensive lineman from Memphis won the Division II, Class 3A Mr. Football Award in the state of Tennessee as a senior.
Both Martavius French and Jimmy Calloway climbed eight spots to finish No. 159 and No. 161, respectively. French, a linebacker from Whitehaven High School in Memphis, is the No. 10 inside linebacker and No. 6 prospect in the state of Tennessee now. Calloway is listed as a wide receiver on Rivals and comes in at No. 31 among receivers in the 2020 class. The do-it-all recruit played a lot of quarterback for Morrow High School in Georgia, but he will start out at wide receiver for Tennessee.
Tennessee’s other 2020 signee to get a boost was four-star linebacker Bryson Eason, a teammate of French at Whitehaven. Eason moved up four spots overall to come in at No. 218 in the updated top 250. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound linebacker was a finalist for the Class 6A Mr. Football Award this past season.
Four-star safety Keshawn Lawrence was the only Vol signee to fall in the rankings, and it was only a minor drop. Lawrence fell one spot to No. 97 overall in the 2020 class. Four-star defensive end Tyler Baron didn’t move at all in the rankings, remaining at No. 108 overall.
According to Rivals’ rankings, the Vols signed nine of the top 18 players in the state of Tennessee in the 2020 cycle.
Despite several Vols moving up in the rankings, Tennessee’s overall team ranking fell from eighth to 11th in the Rivals rankings. But in terms of average rating per recruit, the Vols’ 2020 class currently ranks ninth with a 3.59 average. Of the Vols’ 21 signees, 13 are rated as four-stars or higher on Rivals.
