Wilkes impressed by UT, expects to hear from Oliver

Khalil Wilkes’ visit to Tennessee last week was just the beginning of his summer tour.

The 6-foot-3, 285-pound offensive lineman from St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J., visited UT along with his teammate, athlete Nyshier Oliver, who committed to the Vols during the trip.

Wilkes said his visit to UT was a learning experience about the Vols.

“Before I thought of it more as a football factory,” he said. “It’s great football wise but they have a lot of academic support over there, too.

“The one thing that was eye-opening to me was the whole networking thing and connections they really have with certain businesses. A lot of people care about Tennessee football so they’re going to help the kids when they graduate, which I thought was pretty interesting.”

Wilkes, who has already visited Connecticut, Rutgers, Boston College, Virginia, Pittsburgh and Penn State, wouldn’t call UT his leader after the visit to Knoxville.

Wilkes said his list is still wide open.

He said he does plan to give UT a closer look now that he’s visited the school.

“I’ll look a lot deeper into the school than I was before,” Wilkes said. “Tennessee to me was a very exciting offer.

“I thought I was going to feel uncomfortable all the way out there in Tennessee, but they showed me being from New Jersey I could be comfortable, which I thought was pretty good.”

One person who would make Wilkes feel comfortable at UT is Oliver, a close friend to Wilkes.

Wilkes said Oliver has continued to mention the possibility of them playing together at UT while being respectful of the recruiting process.

“He promotes it as much as he can,” Wilkes said. “Tennessee is a great place.

“He knows at the end of the day I have to go to the school I’m the most comfortable with. If it so happens to not be Tennessee then he understands also.”

Oliver said it would mean a lot if he and Wilkes are able to play together in college.

“We’re all a family,” Oliver said. “We’re familiar with each other and it would be important to go and win an SEC championship and a national championship.”

Wilkes has more visits to take before he will make a final decision.

He said he plans to visit Wake Forest, Stanford and perhaps California this summer. He said he would like to make return trips to Rutgers, UConn and Pittsburgh.

Wilkes said he hopes to choose a school by the start of his senior season, but it could take longer.

Whichever school Wilkes chooses, he wants to make sure it’s the right one.

“I’m just really trying to take my time with this process,” he said. “I don’t want to commit somewhere and then end up decommitting. If I pick a school I want to know for sure, 100 percent that that’s the school for me.”

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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