Memphis Ridgeway coach Duron Sutton spent close to 20 seconds rattling off all the different ways he utilized Sheldon Dawson's athleticism throughout the past season.
Dawson, the top college prospect in the state of Tennessee according to 247Sports, ran the ball. He caught the ball. He fielded punts. He fielded kicks. He shut down the opponent's best wide receiver. He even dropped back to safety some when there was more than one pass-catcher to stymie.
At the end of his explanation, Sutton paused, chuckled and summed up everything he just said in one sentence.
"He just helped us do a lot of things," Sutton said.
Dawson, at 5-foot-11 and 178 pounds, is an athlete. That term applies in both a general sense and, more importantly for Dawson's future, a recruiting sense.
On the major recruiting services, Dawson isn't compared with other running backs, a position in which he ran for more than
1,500 yards as a backup to Ole Miss commit Jaylen Walton this past season, or other cornerbacks, a position 247Sports considers to be a spot where he can eventually become an NFL player. He's lumped in with a group of players simply known as "athletes," whose heights range from 5-foot-10 to 6-foot-8 and weights span from 175-285 pounds.
The distinction isn't given to players who played multiple positions in high school. That would make the majority of recruits "athletes."
This label is reserved for players who project to play multiple positions at the next level, said Barton Simmons, a 247Sports National Recruiting Analyst.
"In Sheldon's case, he's a kid we really like at cornerback, but he wants to try offense," Simmons said of Dawson, whom 247Sports considers to be the No. 8 athlete No. 92 overall prospect in the country. "Colleges have talked to him about the possibility of playing on offense. He gets the athlete tag because he certainly has the ability to play at receiver and running back at the next level."
There are 2,500 reasons why Dawson wants to keep his game diverse at the next level.
That's the number of all-purpose yards he racked up while also finding the end zone 26 times during his senior season. On defense, he intercepted four passes, forced three fumbles and racked up 79 tackles.
The big numbers and big-time rankings haven't exactly brought all of the major programs of the Southeast to Dawson's doorstep. Whenever he makes his final decision, Dawson will be choosing between Georgia and Ole Miss.
Sutton said most schools shut down their recruitment of Dawson when he announced his commitment to Memphis this past July. They picked up right where they left off when Tigers coach Larry Porter was fired in November and subsequently replaced by Justin Fuente. On Wednesday, Dawson told 247Sports that he's "moved on" from Memphis.
Georgia appears to be the team to beat.
"I'm still leaning toward Georgia," Dawson told Rebels247. "The visit to Ole Miss this weekend will tell me where I'll go. I will have seen what I needed to see. I'm not going to count anyone out just yet."
Georgia's sales pitch has been music to Dawson's ears. The Bulldogs want him to be their cornerback of the future, but they've also left the door open to appear on offense, much like Brandon Boykin, who also is 5-foot-11 and close to 175 pounds, did this past season.
Ole Miss has recruited Dawson to play running back.
"It took some schools a while to sort of figure out how good he is," Simmons said. "He didn't go to camps as much as others. The camps he did go to as far as talented camps, those schools were immediately extremely high on him.
"Now, later in the process, he's definitely opened the door a little bit and a lot of schools are realizing there's a real steal to be had."
Sutton, who started coaching Dawson in 2010, admitted it took him a few games to figure out where to plug the athlete, so he completely understands why some schools might view Dawson as a "'tweener."
"He's one of those guys that always wants to run the ball. He runs the ball extremely well but at the end of the day, in big-time football, he's not a running back," Sutton said. "His bodyframe is just not what it's made for. His frame is built for cornerback.
"At the end of the day, you can't deny talent."
Andrew Gribble may be reached at 865-342-6327. Follow him at http://twitter.com/Andrew_Gribble and http://blogs.knoxnews.com/gribble
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
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Comments » 67
xvillefan writes:
Like to have Dawson but i dont think he was ever onto UT, but losing Santos was tough. Texas got a good athlete.
DwayneElizondoMountainDewHerbertCamacho writes:
Interesting that a player commits to a program like Memphis and then other, bigger and better, programs simply stop recruiting him. Seems a bit lazy to me.
On another point, I'm not the kind of guy that thinks that every in-state prospect with big numbers is a "diamond in the rough," but this kid sounds like he could develop into the kind of speedy, shut down corner that would pay dividends in the SEC. He has the frame and if Richt and Freeze are interested in him...that's a pretty good endorsement.
manniesghost1903 writes:
Well with Santos going to Texas (who got a late start on recruiting him) that leaves another scholarship available. It is a bit ironic that Mack Brown who has had a couple of off years is about to come up with a number 1 recruiting class. I wonder how long he would have lasted if Texas had as many "what have you done for me lately fans" as UT seems to have. Good luck to Santos. He has a change to be on a team competing for a National Championship and you can't blame him for switching.
Wait! For Wednesday evening.
manniesghost1903 writes:
Switch change to chance in line 6.
clvolfan writes:
Guess another instate product got away,will come back to bite the VOLS in the butt.
GreerVol22 writes:
Santos, wussed out.
chattabluetick writes:
Santos might have felt the pressure to say Texas today but Wednesday he may pick the real UT. If not for the Volunteers in 1836 Texas would be part of Mexico and don't you forget it.
RashaadSalabeb writes:
If UT is not a possibility why are we talking about him? Come on KNS support your Vols!
Go Big Orange!
jandjhome#228397 writes:
I have been a Big Orange Fan for a long long time. Like I have said before, if I had a son that was a good athlete, I would not want him to go to UT and play for Dooley.
jhayes0926#638474 writes:
because you have no loyalty to the Big Orange. Pathetic
F00tballfanatic writes:
once the vols get a football coach then thet'll start getting the recruits im not a doctor but i did stay at the holiday inn hint hint
TNVol71 writes:
Always hate to lose a good prospect, but I would rather lose them now than have them come in, get dissatisfied and bolt for another team. Let's hope CDD can work his magic again for this year's class. Go Vols!!
GloryDays writes:
Whatever happened to the saying "We are going to build a fence around the state of Tennessee."
deputy658 writes:
You are an idiot when it comes to talking football , I don't care where you stayed last night. How you rate a recruiting class is how well it fits your needs. The class CDD brings in will be counted on to make an imediate impact because of our lack of depth. Santos will be lucky to see the field before he is a JR because of the depth that Texas has at LB. GO VOLS !!!!!!!!!
illinoisvolfan writes:
I would also rather lose them now than lose with them on the field when things don't go the way they hoped.
DwayneElizondoMountainDewHerbertCamacho writes:
Maybe you should wait for Dooley to post a winning season before you start comparing him to Mack Brown.
Mack Brown: 20 consecutive winning seasons
Derek Dooley: 0 consecutive winning seasons
Yeah...Dooley has definitely earned the patience of the fan base...especially when you consider that Mack Brown is a winner. Yep, that makes sense.
BruisedOrange writes:
And don't forget that (our) coaches are not going to say anything publicly if a young man is NOT recruited for character or academic reasons. (I know nothing about the Dawson kid--I'm just making the point that we may never hear the reason why coaches don't go after any one kid specifically.)
Richt has established his program, and has plenty of seniors who "maintain" that standard of expectations for behavior on-and-off the field. Other programs can afford to spend a few scholarships on "projects"--and some day ours will too.
Right now, Dooley's still having to cull from the wood pile that was already here, while trying to instill a new standard for Vol athletes. When it all comes together in Knoxville, it will seem to happen suddenly. But as the old timers in Oak Ridge will tell you, it can be a slow slog to reaching critical mass.
tennvolsman19651965 writes:
I agree with you, but Smack Browns first 6 seasons as a head coach, he did not have a winning season. So, in all reality, he can be compared to Dooley at this stage of the game.
Smack reeled off 20 straight winning seasons, only to have a losing season, with all of those high recruiting classes back in 2010.
TitanandVolfan4life writes:
NEVER let these ignorant trolls/posers fool you into thinking they're Tennessee fans.
They ARE fans of other teams that only come here to post LIES because they really FEAR Coach Dooley and our program that he's rebuilding.
They hope recruits read their LIES and decide to go play elsewhere because they know forr a FACT that once our Vols get back in the top 10 National ranking we'll stay there and will WIN most every year against their teams like the UT Vols history PROVES we do.
I pity total Losers like those trolls/posers because their reality is their football teams mostly LOSE to our Vols, they have no friends, no job, no hope for a happy, successful life so coming here is their ONLY pasttime and life they have regardless of how pathetic that is.
I don't mind losing Sans because if they don't want to be a Vol there's always better kids that will become better players wearing our Big Orange.
VFL...GBO!!!
CCLC writes:
SOD spent too much time trying to annex Atlanta into the state of Tennessee and not enough building that fence.
just sayin'
CCLC writes:
Let’s not get to far ahead o of ourselves chattabluetick.I doubt that anyone has forgotten the importance of Crockett and the Volunteers, but they didn't do it by themselves! Let's keep in mind that if Crockett had been reelected to the Tennessee Senate he would have never lead those 16 Volunteers to Texas so he could serve as a private at the Alamo.
Col. Jim Bowie was from Kentucky and Commander Colonel William Travis was from South Carolina. The majority of the Alamo defenders were not professional soldiers. They were San Antonio citizens(of the 183 defenders), both Mexican and American, farmers who stayed to defend the land they had worked so hard to call their own.
It was Travis, with these 183 men, who performed nothing less than a miracle. Knowing that the Independence Convention was underway and that Texas needed time to raise an army, Travis had to hold Santa Anna off as long as possible. Santa Anna could have ignored this handful of revolutionaries altogether, marched right past them and caught the Texans off guard before they could organize themselves. Instead, he played right into Travis' hands, devoting four thousand soldiers and thirteen days to the defeat of the Texans inside the Alamo.
From Walter Lord's classic book on the Alamo, “A Time to Stand“, published in 1961: According to Lord, among the 183 Alamo defenders from 18 states who were killed were five Georgians: Albert Calvin Grimes, William Wells, Manson Shied, Edwin T. Mitchell, and William T. Malone. Lord's book does not reveal the hometowns of the first four of these men, but it does state that William T. Malone was a native of Athens,Georgia.
Just sayin’
NottaVol writes:
FEAR Doofus, really? Do you actually believe these kids are sitting around reading this cr^p? "Their teams mostly LOSE to the vols", correct me if I'm wrong but Vandy is the only team Doofus has beaten twice since he's been a vfl. You're right about apathy, you are drowning in it.
SmokeyFTW writes:
Can anyone post a link that says Santos has decommitted. I thought we had this kid locked up once Sal got on board. As for the other kid "Dawson" who cares he's not going to be a vol and was never considering being a vol. Lets talk about something that has to do with the Big Orange. There is probably a good reason we didnt go after him that nobody knows except the coaching staff.
volnvette03 writes:
How was the 5-7 season in 201o a winning record? Mack Brown talks like Mr Haney from Green Acres.
VolGrad writes:
Apparently at least 34 (over 1/6 of the total) were known to be from Tennessee, including the mounted volunteers led by Crockett.
http://www.forttumbleweed.net/alamo.html
jack_2222#231746 writes:
Santos is slow. He's one of those kids that matures early and has no upside. Not a big loss.
snakeplissken writes:
We're getting outrecruited big time for our instate players because coaches from Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Pittsburg have attended high school games in Tennessee on Friday nights while UT's coaches are resting in the comforts of their home. Even Vandy and Ole Miss got some gems from Tennessee that our coaches never saw play in person.
WaltGoVols writes:
What a crappy title. It suggests that Dawson has already been "stolen".
Lame. No wonder Coach Saben got fed up with "professional" writers like this.
Walt
UT '81
snuffysmiff writes:
The coach that made that quip is now at USC.
dyerbey#281598 writes:
Rivals ranks Dawson the #11 player in the State, amazing the difference between the ranking services. Sounds like he has little interest in the Vols. As for Santos, let's see. I am going to Texas A and M, no wait, I'm going to Tennessee no wait, I'm going to Texas. Sounds like another spoiled kid who needs to much pampering. We don't need anymore of those types. Also, Mr. Santos gives Texas 26 recruits, so which young man gets told to "wait until January 2013 to enroll?" Well Mr Santos since you are #26 it might as well be you. Have fun watching NCAA football on TV when you could be playing.
dyerbey#281598 writes:
agreed. Texas was 5 and 7 in 2010, and not a very good team in 2011. Mack Brown is in a slow decline. If and when Santos graduates, Mack Brown will no longer be the head coach of Texas
CCLC writes:
If it's a numbers game that is important to you. 45 of that total were Mexican farmers.
GONAVY writes:
Feel better now?
VolGrad writes:
Not at all. You are the one who stated that "5 were from Georgia," etc. So I just felt inclined to put a number on those from Tennessee. And I have the utmost respect of them all, whether Americans, Mexicans or Irish. Yes, there was at least one from Ireland.
And as you previously said..., "Just sayin'."
Go Vols!
CCLC writes:
Well said VolGrad!
(...and the second President of Texas was from Georgia. UT and Texas AM are here today because of him)
;-)
FLORIDAGATORHATER writes:
We are only 2 or 3 slots above Vanderbilt in recruiting according to ESPN. Get ready for another 10 years of mediocrity.
murrayvol writes:
This is true of many Texas players. The HS system is such that most reach their full potential as HS seniors.
No denying, however, that for a fair # of Texas athletes that's enough.
CCLC writes:
"It's whoever wants it more," Gray said, "whoever works the hardest."
agentorange writes:
It'd be nice if KNS reported on Vols' recruits instead of making a no-compete pact with GVX.
dyerbey#281598 writes:
it depends on what service you look at. Rivals has us #11 well ahead of vandy and 3rd in the SEC only to BAMA and the Gay Turds
CCLC writes:
School ESPNU 150 Commits
1. Alabama 12 27
2. Texas 11 26
3. Florida State 9 16
4. Florida 8 21
5. Georgia 5 16
6. Ohio State 5 24
7. Clemson 6 20
8. Michigan 4 23
9. Notre Dame 6 18
10. Oklahoma 5 20
View 2012 class rankings »
Oh well.
Juzkruzin writes:
If you had stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, maybe someone would think you were smart enough to write some thing about a coach. You cannot even get the ad right (LMFAO). Mr CDD that his coaching staff recruits since the end of last season and then 2-3 weeks before signing date they leave for some other school and most takes a lot of the recruiters they had recruited for the BO with them. Look at how many Kiffin and Oranate took to S Cal. That is why Fulmer did a good job at UT, he kept the coaching staff together for a long time.The 1-2 starting leaving and our w's started going down and when Tippy Brown left, so did our big running backs, wide recievers, and DB's. UT needs to pay Tippy enough money to bring him back, even it is a 1.23- 1.5 million. His recruiting would be worth it.
snakeplissken writes:
We're actually #12 with Rivals behind 3 SEC teams. BUT - watch LSU, Auburn, and Georgia pass us on signing day. We may outdo one of those and finish 6th in the SEC. Just the facts.
orangecountyvols writes:
Titan, and other real Vols,
Thanks friend. I know I can scroll over the trolls and whiners and can count on you and other true Vols to post something of an intelligent manner.
You're right about the trolls' motives.
BruisedOrange writes:
You could look at it this way: even the best fences have a gate.
The gate to the fence around Tennessee has always been located at Memphis.
CCLC writes:
The Bulldogs have added the top defensive back in the state of Tennessee to their 2012 recruiting class.
PHAT_VOL writes:
I think your right.
Time will tell.
allvol32 writes:
Trolls post their usual mindless stream of idiocy and 'negavols' are ready to suck an exhaust pipe.
What miserable lives these poor wretched souls must lead.
navarrebeachvol writes:
I've been to the Alamo and read the names on the walls. Tennesseans "ranked" #1. 83 claimed Texas, only 5 originally born there. "Irish" were second. Just saying.
CCLC writes:
Good stuff and a HT to ya!
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