Scroggins to announce Wednesday

Jesse Scroggins will announce his college destination Wednesday.

The highly rated quarterback from Lakewood (Calif.) High School was originally scheduled to announce his decision this coming Saturday at the Elite 11 Quarterback Camp.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Scroggins has long been considering Tennessee, Southern California and Florida.

UT was long thought to lead for Scroggins’ services before he earned a scholarship offer from the Trojans in June after a standout performance in a USC camp. Now, most believe Southern Cal is in the lead. Scroggins lives less than 20 miles from USC’s campus.

The Vols, however, have a near vacant depth chart on their side. UT is slated to have only one scholarship quarterback, Nick Stephens, on its roster following this season.

UT will likely add Nick Lamaison to the mix. The 6-1, 200-pound quarterback from Mount San Antonio Community College in Walnut, Calif., declined to confirm that he had signed to be a Vol last week when reached by the News Sentinel.

Lamaison’s school Web site reported he was signed on Wednesday but the school later removed the story.

The Vols also have former minor league baseball player turned walk-on quarterback Mike Rozier on the roster.

If Scroggins does indeed commit to USC, he will be the latest of a handful of quarterbacks who spurned the Vols’ advances.

Jake Heaps from Sammamish, Wash., committed to BYU. Andrew Hendrix from Cincinnati committed to Notre Dame. Blake Bell from Wichita, Kan., committed to Oklahoma. Chase Rettig from Sierra Madre, Calif., committed to Boston College.

UT won’t likely give up on recruiting another quarterback for the 2010 class. It remains to be seen if the Vols will offer another high school, pro-style quarterback. More likely, UT could pursue another junior college quarterback.

Barry Brunetti from Memphis University School is also a possibility. The Vols pursued him heavily before he committed to West Virginia.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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