It’s the time of year where there is a lot of coming and going from recruiting classes, and Butch Jones, especially, has seen a lot of shuffling in late months over the past couple recruiting cycles.
The Vols added a three-star defensive end in Deandre Johnson earlier in the day, but then lost three-star linebacker Mo Burnam, who announced his decision to open up his recruitment after being committed to the Vols since March.
Thank you Volunteer family ✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/pi3kD00GLu
— "Mo" Burnam (@dburnam1) December 12, 2016
It’s always tough to say exactly what happened in these situations – it can be a player decision, a team decision as it tries to create more spots in the class or a mutual decision between the two parties.
But it appears, at the very least, that this was an amicable split between UT and the 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker out of Conyers, Ga., who is ranked as the 38th best inside linebacker in the nation by 247Sports.
The Vols do have at least three true linebackers committed in this class in Will Ignont, Solon Page III and Shanon Reid, in addition to a few other “athletes” who could factor in at LB. Tennessee currently has 25 commitments in its 2017 class.