Defensive Line
Nesta Silvera
Star Rating: 4-star
Overall Rank: 54
Position Rank: 2
State: Florida
Height/Weight: 6-2, 308
Top Offers: Miami (committed), Alabama, Auburn, Ohio State
Emmit Gooden
Star Rating: 4-star
Overall Rank: 17 (JUCO)
Position Rank: 7 (JUCO)
State: Kansas
Height/Weight: 6-4, 295
Top Offers: Alabama, Georgia, Florida
Otito Ogbonnia
Star Rating: 3-star
Overall Rank: 757
Position Rank: 55
State: Texas
Height/Weight: 6-3, 300
Top Offers: Nebraska, Notre Dame, UCLA
John Mincey
Star Rating: 3-star
Overall Rank: 792
Position Rank: 38
State: Georgia
Height/Weight: 6-4, 255
Top Offers: Auburn, Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas
Kurott Garland
Star Rating: N/A
Overall Rank: N/A
Position Rank: N/A
State: Georgia
Height/Weight: 6-3, 250
Top Offers: Tennessee
It’s very clear that Tennessee wants to add another defensive tackle or defensive end to their 2018 class. Or both if they can manage it.
The most likely player that the Vols will sign is Otito Ogbonnia, a three-star prospect out of Katy, Texas. Ogbonnia is very athletic but has the size Tennessee’s coaches are looking for in a potential nose tackle. If they can convince Nesta Silvera to flip from Miami to them, then then Tennessee will gladly take him. But that doesn’t seem very likely.
Another name to keep an eye on is Emmit Gooden. The four-star JUCO defensive tackle named the Vols as one of his top three schools recently, and he appears to like Tennessee despite the new coaching staff only offering him in mid-January. The Vols were involved with him when he was coming out of high school, but he ultimately took the junior college route. Tennessee has made up a lot of ground with him in a short period of time, but will it be enough?
An interesting prospect to watch out for is Kurott Garland. He’s currently unranked, and his only FBS offer is from Tennessee. But Garland is teammates with current Vol commit Jordan Young, and Young went from unranked to a four-star on 247Sports the day he committed to Tennessee. Garland could be another such diamond in the rough, as he put up some eye-popping numbers in high school. He totaled over 60 tackles for loss as a junior and senior and averaged just over a sack a game in his last two seasons of high school. He also totaled over 250 tackles.
Tennessee wants to add one or two more defensive linemen, especially if they can get a nose tackle of the future in this class. Expect them to make this unit a big priority.
