Life of Riley update

Tennessee rolled out the orange carpet on Saturday and the Vols made a strong impression.

"I liked the facilities a lot," Stephenson High School linebacker Perry Riley said. "That was the first school I have seen with the full indoor field. ... That lets you know that they're very serious about football."

Riley and three of his Georgia teammates are being heavily recruited by UT. Linebacker Kelvin Sheppard, defensive end Jermaine Cunningham and Riley attended UT's 7-on-7 passing camp last Saturday.

The trio's other highly touted teammate, Marcus Ball, did not make the trip in order to take a college entrance exam.

For the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Riley, it was his first trip to Knoxville and seeing the nearly completed renovation of the Neyland-Thompson Sports Complex had an impact.

"I was pretty surprised," Riley said. "I expected to see what everybody else had. ... It was a huge indoor facility with meeting rooms, goal posts, and everything."

Riley said the trip to Knoxville cemented UT as one of his top two colleges candidates. Georgia, the likely leader, will be UT's strongest competition.

"It does a lot," Riley said when asked if the trip improved UT's chances of landing him. "It puts them way up to the top."

Riley said he is also considering LSU and Auburn. He said he plans to visit Georgia Tech and Georgia this summer.

The Stephenson stars have college coaches across the nation dreaming of a recruiting grand slam, securing the services of all four of the highly rated prospects.

"We don't talk about but it is a possibility because we're all very close," Riley said of the chances the four will select the same school.