Holloway is stored away for possibly Vols

If you’re looking for some football prospects to compliment the News Sentinel’s Top 10 in Tennessee, look no further than Ricky Holloway from Fayette Ware High School in Somerville.

Holloway already has scholarship offers from Tennessee, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Alabama and Kentucky have shown strong interest. Miami and Florida have kept themselves in the hunt.

“Most are really impressed with my speed,” the 6-foot-2, 225-pounder said. “I’m big and I run a 4.6 but my coach thinks I can get it down to a 4.5.”

Coaches are so impressed with Holloway’s speed that some are considering a position change for a player that has excelled at linebacker during his high school career.

“Most of the colleges want me to play free safety or strong safety,” Holloway said. “I’ll play anywhere as long as I’m on the field.”

Such a move is pretty unusual. Safeties often move to linebacker and linebackers often move to defensive end, but a linebacker that is athletic enough to play safety? That seems like a perfect fit for UT’s speedy defensive style.

“They pretty much send me five letters a day,” Holloway said. “They’re recruiting me the hardest.”

Holloway said he wants to stay close to home, meaning UT and Memphis have a natural advantage.

Holloway seems to be a natural when it comes to making plays. He registered 10 sacks, at least three forced fumbles, five tackles for a loss and 81 tackles last season.

Holloway seems so focused on improving this summer that he’s barely thought about his impending college decision. That means he’s wide open and no decision is coming anytime soon.

“I’m looking at all universities,” Holloway said. “I probably won’t make my decision until after the season.”

Top 10 Turn Back: After compiling the News Sentinel’s Top 10 prospects, I was struck with just how many prospects there are in the state.

Now, I don’t think this class is as good as the previous three years, but it’s still producing more than a dozen prospects that will prove worthy of scholarship offers from BCS schools. That only helps UT, as it should have a strong recruiting base to lay a foundation on year after year.

Here are some awards I’m handing out to some of the News Sentinel’s Top 10:

 Masterlock Award For Most Likely to Succeed: This has to be Aaron Douglas of Maryville. He’s got the physical skills in bushel loads and has a great attitude according to everyone close to him. As long as Douglas doesn’t get too big to play tight end, he’ll be a multi-year starter, at least.

 Hard Charger Award For Most Momentum: I doubt offensive lineman Alex Hurst from Arlington would have even made the News Sentinel’s top 15 earlier this summer. Now, he’s my eighth best prospect in the state — and he might even move higher.

 Transformer Award For Most Versatile: Chris Jordan from Brentwood Academy is expected to play tailback in college but has shown flashes of being even more, maybe even an athlete that could line up at more than one offensive position. Or, he could play linebacker in college.

 Miracle-Gro Award For Most Potential: Barrett Jones from Evangelical Christian School in Memphis could grow into a prototypical NFL offensive tackle. Jones’ level of dominance will depend on how his body develops. As of now, he’s a bit thin.

Some Respect: Here’s a prospect to keep an eye on, Kendall Dangerfield of Giles County in Pulaski. Dangerfield hasn’t received much respect from recruiting media to this point but that could change.

Don’t be surprised if the defensive lineman starts to receive a trickle — if not a flood — of scholarship offers over the coming months.

Dangerfield has the size at 6-2 and 270 pounds. With a strong start to his senior season, he could definitely become a late bloomer in the 2008 signing class.

Dave Hooker covers recruiting. He may be reached at hookerd@knews.com.