Highly rated tailback Michael Dyer is expected to commit to Auburn during a press conference Friday at 10:30 a.m., according to a source close to his recruitment.
Dyer, along with teammate Dakota Mosley, took a last-second official visit to Knoxville last weekend. The two are from Little Rock (Ark.) Christian High School. It is unclear when Mosley will announce his commitment.
Dyer is considered one of the top tailback prospects in the nation. The 5-foot-8, 200-pounder has scholarship offers from several schools. UT is thought to be one of Dyer’s top two choices, along with Auburn. Dyer hasn’t answered nor returned phone calls from the News Sentinel this week.
Mosley is a 6-4, 250-pound tight end with scholarship offers from UT, Florida State, Louisiana Tech and Tulsa.
The Vols made Dyer a top priority and possibly the top tailback on their recruiting board, especially once tailback Lache Seastrunk from Temple (Texas) High began showing signs that he would be headed elsewhere after visiting UT last summer.
Tailback isn’t a position of need for UT. The Vols will likely only sign one tailback for the 2010 signing class. UT signed two of the top tailbacks in the nation, Bryce Brown and David Oku, in the 2009 class.
Don’t expect the Vols to give up pursuit of Dyer. UT’s coaching staff has shown it is plenty willing to recruit prospects committed to other schools.
Verbal commitments are non-binding. National Signing Day, when prospects can sign their letter of intent and are contractually tied to a school, is Feb. 3.
Vanderbilt 93, Tennessee 79, Feb. 9…
Signing day celebration at Neyland…
Notre Dame beats Tennessee 72-44…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 24
TSNSD4UT writes:
Stay on them Kiff.
chad_t31 writes:
We've still got Tauren Poole as well. Not concerned about the rb position.
CynicalCitizen writes:
I'm pretty sure Poole won't be around next year.
ctownvol writes:
Do not forget about Toney Williams. That kid is a beast and WAY better than most people realize. He will be a red-shirt freshman next year.
golfballs03 writes:
Not surprised about this. We are deep at RB.
pammyvol1000 writes:
I think Poole is better than Brown or Oku. Wonder why he doesn't get to play more!
tngivem6 writes:
Poole is a hold over from the Fulmer era..as it has been known in the past..Most hold overs have shown bad practice skills, which translates to no playing time.
miketnvolsfan writes:
lets go dyer love to c ya playing in real orange we can use this guy
Major_Magilicutty writes:
HEADLINE READS PAIR BUT THE STORY IS ABOUT DYER????
COME THE F ON, KNS!!!! GET IT TOGETHER!!!!
Major_Magilicutty writes:
I say that because we have a commit and official visitor this weekend by the last name Pair!
chad_t31 writes:
good call. I had absolutely forgotten about TW. May even see Oku play in the slot quite a bit with brown and Williams/Poole getting most of the carries. Oku doesn't look too comfortable to me back there yet. But we'll see, that's next year...alot can happen. Go Vols! Beat mempizz st.!!
rockytopspottedbirgdog writes:
Its not over at the RB position. We will land either Seastrunk, Lattimore or Dyer. Book it! You heard it here first.
volinlouisiana writes:
You realize this story is talking about 2 recruits from the same area. Hence they constitute a pair. I don't work for KNS or anything, but that's my take anyway.
TennesseeGorilla writes:
I'm not buying it. This has been rumored for weeks, why still hold the press conference?He'll be a Vol, if not tomorrow, soon.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
And Tony Williams! We are well-stocked at RB. If we don't get the one we want this year, we'll get a good one next year. For myself, I'm still holding out for some good O-line prospects, no matter what position they are playing now.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Correct. Dyer's team-mate visiting with him is Moseley, the tight-end prospect.
stratocaster54 writes:
If I was a RB, I'd go there too, since that's all they can do. I wouldn't go to AU if I wanted to win though! Lord knows he wouldn't come to UT since he'd never play behind our RBs.
SmokeyHound writes:
we need a o-linemen - plus urban meyer got fined
tdvol1989 writes:
That must be it because while I won't go so far as to say Poole is better than Brown and Oku, I will say he might be. Poole was getting some good press in the preseason, so he must be in the doghouse for either taking it easy in practice or fumbling a lot in practice (though I have not heard that).
We need an early blowout against Memphis tomorrow to make sure we can see all of our running backs. I don't worry about Kiffin wanting to kill them, but we need to so we can play a few guys that likely lost playing time due to the critical nature of the last few games.
tdvol1989 writes:
By the way, someone in Little Rock told me that Dyer did make his commitment to Auburn public today. That was not nearly as big a need as OL, but since he goes to my kids' school and I have been watching him for 3 years, I sure wanted to see him in Orange.
Unfortunately, I tore my ACL last week like Savion, so I cannot go to their HUGE game tonight against our biggest rival, but if you want to see a glimpse of the guy Kiffin is still going to try to steal, he plays on ESPNU tonight at 8EST/7CST.
joeaubie writes:
Why be a jerk? To make those comments in a year we beat UT (for the 5th straight time) is just dumb. TN did a great job last year with RBs and that will make it harder to get a top one this year. You don't have to trash another school for getting a commit from someone that has named them as his leader since the summer. Unless it is Bammer or FL!!
tdvol1989 writes:
You are wrong my friend. Dyer runs very hard and he would push Brown BIG TIME! Flip over to ESPNU and watch him. He aleady has a 31yd run and a TD.
And with that creative offense, he will have more 1 on 1 opportunties much like the Run and Shoot did for Barry Sanders. And Malzahn has some connections in Arkansas. He comes from a family that could use financial support and he has a lot of pressure on him. He comes from an area and state that does not produce talent like this often. He and his uncle thought this through. Don't pout!
johnlg00#206211 writes:
There doesn't necessarily have to be anything at all wrong with Poole except that he is on a team with a number of good backs. After Hardesty and Brown, there just haven't been a whole lot of carries for anyone else. I will say that since Oku is returning kicks and occasionally playing slot receiver, it should be possible to get Poole a couple of carries a game to keep him involved and interested. I think his role may expand next year, but it would be wise for the staff not to completely overlook him this year unless there ARE effort issues or something, such as you mentioned.
bill#1374014 writes:
Poole is gone after this year, mark it down.
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