There is a possibility Tennessee’s wide receiving corps will be one player deeper throughout its Music City Bowl practices.
Vincent Dallas, a three-star athlete from Ellenwood, Ga., who had already planned to enroll for spring semester, said Sunday he will join the Vols for bowl practice. He graduates from Cedar Grove High on Wednesday and said he will be on campus Thursday, just in time for the first of the 15 allotted practices.
“I’m just going to see how everything is and I’ll try to contribute,” Dallas said.
According to NCAA rules, early enrollees can practice only on campus but must be finished with the enrollment process to do so. Spring classes begin Jan. 12.
Dallas is one of six UT commitments who plan to enroll early, though it appears he is the only one who will join the team this month. Quarterback Justin Worley (Rock Hill, S.C.), center Mack Crowder (Bristol), tight end Brendan Downs (Bristol), offensive lineman Alan Posey (Athens, Ga.) and cornerback Justin Coleman (Brunswick, Ga.) are expected to join Dallas in January.
Dallas, who committed to the Vols in October over a bevy of offers from across the SEC, was one of four official visitors on campus this past weekend. He didn’t have much to say about the visit because, well, he’s already been to Knoxville five times in the past year.
“It wasn’t nothing I hadn’t seen,” Dallas said. “It was nice. They showed me a good time. It was real nice.”
Hosted by defensive tackle Malik Jackson, Dallas (6-foot, 180 pounds) spent time with his future position coach, Charlie Baggett, who provided Dallas with the basics of what he will be expected to do over the next few weeks.
“I’ll just be running routes, working with the quarterback. Not too much,” Dallas said. “He’s a real cool coach. We get along just fine.”
Dallas was joined this weekend by four-star junior college cornerback Izauea Lanier (East Mississippi Community College), four-star JUCO defensive end Leon Mackey (Hinds Community College) and three-star safety Kadetrix Marcus (Stone Mountain, Ga.). Lanier and Mackey remained uncommitted, while Marcus committed to South Carolina in November.
Dallas said he tried to recruit all three to UT throughout the weekend, and was most optimistic about his progress with Mackey, who has visited Texas Tech, Alabama and South Carolina and plans to see Mississippi State in January.
Lanier has said he will decide between UT and Ole Miss and plans to enroll for spring semester at whichever school he chooses.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 48
volnut64 writes:
First!
tnsportsman writes:
Excellent Vincent Dallas, welcome to BIG ORANGE COUNTRY! I'm liking these 6 to 9 early enrollees the past 2 years! Its HUGE for experience!
GO VOLS, WE ARE UT!
clvolfan writes:
Don't believe I have heard of "any"wavering at all from Worley about his committment,so why the negative interjection?
civilianvol_formerly_marinevol writes:
Lenier is aware that Houston Nutt is still the head coach at Ole Miss, isn't he? Things won't get much better there.
keepitreal4vols writes:
Great news, what did you win?
TheOneVolFanInHawaii writes:
lenier and mackey would both be GREAT pickups, good depth at razor thin positions :\
CarthageVol writes:
Does anyone have a good site to read about our recruiting news? I found a good read by 'X' on Tony Basilio's website. Any suggestions? I know silence is par right now, but any nonSMU inside info will be nice.
tree_em_smokey writes:
I love guys like Dallas who are Orange through and through! Agree with you clvolfan that we shouldn't fill in the unknowns with negative assumptions. Worley is committed the the Vols and I don't believe he will waver seeing all the recievers that are here and the ones that will be here shortly. Good Qb's love to be sourrounded by good recievers. Also Worley has ststed that competition isn't an issue. Even if he goes elsewhere, which I strongly think is unlikely he will still have to compete for the starting job. We will have many good commits in the near future! Go Vols Baaabbyyyyyy!!!!
utjunkie writes:
Man I hope we can get Lanier, we need help in the secondary. The defensive line is probably the biggest need in this class then the secondary. So lets hope for some help in these two areas.
cphil writes:
Somebody better call Dr. Susan Martin and ask her if it's OK with her.
tree_em_smokey writes:
Off topic but I wonder how Marlon Brown feels down there in GA hardly ever catching the ball? Unfortunate for him we had "someone else" as coach at the time. I don't know if he would have came to UT if PF or DD were the coach though. Those Memphis boys are a little partial to UT. Come on coaches and reel some FL commits in!
bigOutfan writes:
Sounds like TN will have a great class of newcomers. They'll need them all. Just looking at their schedule for next year, here's 6 of the toughest, FL, LSU, ARK, GA, AL, USC. Good luck VOLS. One game at a time.
SpiralBound writes:
I have no idea what Ole Miss could offer that UT can't. Our academics are better, the landscape is better, tradition is stronger, and the coaches are on their way UP, not down. Maybe Lanier is most interested in being close to home.
dead_vol_foul (Inactive) writes:
Worley would get a huge benefit from being here...plus would help Matt make his deciesion.
Matt is gone one way or the other, I guess.
He did the job he needed to do for us, and played the best he could. He might not like it, but he helped the program a ton just be taking hits while Bray developed.
HtownVol writes:
Idiots still comment "first". What a loser!
I was just looking through the available players on my free agent list for my fantasy league (I play in the championship next week as of now, for $500) and I seen that Jonathon Crompton is on the Patriots roster. I did not know that. Is he on the active roster or Practice Squad? That is a very good team for JC to one day backup T Brady. I wish him all the best. Maybe Jarod Mayo can keep him motivated.
As for V Dallas, I am so excited about the WR's we will have. We have a great combo of size (Hunter, Rogers and Milton) and speed (Arnett and Dallas).
I am really hoping we can land the #2 RB who is considering UT (Crowell??) and Richardson (OL from Nashville) and a few of the highly ranked D-Linemen considering UT.
I think we will have a lot of depth and skill at a few positions in the next few years. Amazingly the OL is one of them (add Posey, Kerbyson(sp?), Crowder and Richardson-hopefully) DB with Randolph, Martin and Coleman. And the most importand recruit may very well be Worley. If he stays with us we are so set at QB for at least 4 years. From the 1st time I saw his videos I really liked him.
The future is so bright at UT, especially with the fast decline UF is heading toward.
GO VOLS!
JungleVOL writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
UTbassdrummer writes:
There is no reason ANYWHERE to question
Worley. At all. He's coming. Early.
tnsportsman writes:
Only if Gus is an Idiot! What real or good coach would go to vaaanderbilt, NOT! But he was a HS Coach only 4 years ago, LOL.
GO VOLS, WE ARE UT!
vollady writes:
Gus is going to Vandy
Hrockytop writes:
Vincent Dallas seems all Vol! The more I read the more I like this guy!
Go Vols
jobrando#216494 writes:
Rivals finally admitted Worley exist. If he is outstanding in the Shrine bowl he will move up the latter. If he does bad they will say we told you so.
Slystone writes:
Don't forget about Cam Cleer out of Memphis Central - OL/TE. Vols need him also.
Slystone writes:
It's Hipp Time!
CoverOrange writes:
If he has any success at all it'll be a short stay. Vandy was the perfect opportunity for him. Experiment for both sides.
BamaVol writes:
Its very possible that Bray may be on the bench after Worley gets his shot. This kid is fantastic.
HtownVol writes:
I am sure there are quite a few more we would love to have. If we can keep the commits we have now we can be selective of who we sign now. It looks very nice at this point
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Did they lock him down, Naval?
All I've been doing is watch it snow.
Nearly 5 " so far.
Bigger_Al writes:
Do you really think Simms will transfer? I hope not. He's already been to 3 schools in four years, You'd think he would want to settle down a little, but maybe he wants guaranteed playing time. If Worley is going to have to work on his release and being under center, it would be nice to redshirt him.
He'd be 2nd team next year, and with the O-Line still very young (4 Sophomores and a Junior), there's a pretty good chance he'll get on the field.
orangecountyvols writes:
Gary,
I agree that 'on paper' these look like some decent competition. That's 2011 which is a long way off right now.
IMO, we have a shot at even those 6........so we'll see.
AirForceVol2786 writes:
Marlon was never coming to Tennessee. His grandmother loved Coach Richt and she made the decision for him.
AVOL4EVR2 writes:
Lanier to pick between U.T. & Old Miss.....Now...would that be called NO-BRAINER...
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
Bray, better than Murray???? Uh, I love Tyler Bray and think he's gonna be great. But in NO WAY is he better than Aaron Murray at this point and time. Perhaps in a couple of yrs, but not now.
Orange_Juiced writes:
Well, in the prophetic words of Reese Bobby...if you ain't first...you're last. So congrats on your win.
southfloridavol writes:
I love the articles in the Football Recruiting Section of this website. Keep em coming. GBO!!!
jawbreaker writes:
I believe that Jason Allen was the last UT recruit to start at mid-year and practice with the bowl team. While he was a great talent anyway, I always felt that head start was a very postitive thing. Perhaps Dallas will benefit to the same degree.
UTByrd writes:
Go to youtube and check out iTavius Mathers, the rb from Blackman High in Memphis. He is simply amazing. He has a long stride that makes him look slow but he makes everyone else look slower. He also has some mean cuts.
Go VOLS!!!!!
lofter writes:
I don't think the Vols need any distractions during practice. Certainly not someone who won't be in the game. Let him study the play book.
Pompey writes:
....I can tell you on good authority that Worley is the most solid commitment the Vols have...it will be fun watching these two QB's competing to make each other better....
Ty4Vols writes:
Dude, Bray did it last year. Where ya been bro?
dead_vol_foul (Inactive) writes:
I do think Matt is gone. He'll go to a DII or wherever he can get on the field.
Tyler has 'it', and next year he's going to be an amazing passer.
Hard to say about Worley; he might RS, so he can start after Bray's junior season, when Tyler will go pro if he progresses like I think he will.
All barring injury, of course.
taylorsvolfan writes:
That would be "ladder" and the Shrine Bowl is Saturday and I would look for him to have a good game. Forecast is 42 and rain so that could be a factor. Anyway I am excited and look forward to him becoming a Vol.
HtownVol writes:
I know Matt is going to somehow feel he should be the starter, it is good for being confident but he also needs to be reasonable. That said he will be very dumb to leave UT. Where would he go?? backup Stephens at Texan No Name C.C? That would be his 4th college and if he can do that with pride then he is a sad kid. Now, I seriously doubt he leaves. The 2nd QB at UT in this time is not a bad job at all. Bray may get hurt (please no) and Simms is the starter, and a descent one. So he is one play away.
The biggest reason I want Simms back is so JW can red-shirt. I would like JW to be the #2 next season but we are all better off if he can red-shirt and start after Bray for 2 or 3 seasons.
GO VOLS!
cooper65#432178 writes:
There's always a reason. I've seen enough over the years to worry until they sign on the dotted line and I see them on the field in Orange and White. Don't act like it's not within the realm of possibility.
jawbreaker writes:
Ty, thanks for catching me up. I knew that Bray started at mid-year, but was not aware of him practicing with the team. I'll try to stay out from under that rock.
castoff121 writes:
If I remember right, Crompton was dropped shortly after the fantasy material was printed. I noticed his name when I was running a draft in the CBS fantasy pack. I think he was dropped about 4 days before we did our draft.
Mule_Days_King writes:
But can't coach worth a Vanderbilt.
dead_vol_foul (Inactive) writes:
holy smokes!!
serious case of 'panties in a wad' for you, eh?
dead_vol_foul (Inactive) writes:
You have to understand the kid's point of view: for all intents and purposes, he has one year of PT left....he's probably been playing ball since, what, age 5??
I'll never, ever question a kid for xferring to play. Especially a QB, where many coaches NEVER sub.
You have one life, man, live it.
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