The Vols already have the No. 1 offensive tackle committed to them in the 2019 recruiting class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. And according to the founder and CEO of 247Sports, Tennessee has a very good chance of landing the No. 2 offensive tackle this cycle as well.
Shannon Terry, the founder and CEO of 247Sports, made an appearance on Midday 180 on 104.5 FM in Nashville on Friday to talk about different recruiting topics. He was asked about his recent crystal ball prediction in favor of the Vols to five-star offensive tackle Darnell Wright, and he said he actually made that prediction to “test out the code” of the new crystal ball feature they’re working on for the new 247Sports site.
But he didn’t just give a random prediction. Terry also thinks the Vols are in a very good spot for Wright.
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“I got some really good intel from both sides,” Terry said of Wright and the Vols. “He’s obviously maybe the highest priority for the Tennessee nation. People really close to him love Pruitt, love the Vols. He likes them. And in the end, I think it’s going to be an Alabama-Tennessee battle, and I think the Vols are going to win this one.
“That’s a long play for me. Right now I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re in the driver’s seat, but I’m betting at the end of the deal they will be.”
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Wright is the No. 9 overall player in the 2019 class and the second-best offensive tackle in the country behind only five-star offensive tackle and Tennessee commit Wanya Morris.
Wright has unofficially visited Tennessee twice this year already, taking a visit to Knoxville in March to watch the Vols go through a spring practice then coming back again on June 1st. He’s likely to take an official visit to Tennessee sometime during the season, and the Vols’ match-up with Florida in Knoxville on September 22nd seems like the most likely date. He’s not likely to announce a commitment any time soon and probably won’t till after his senior season is over.
The 6-foot-6, 320-pound lineman recently released his list of the top 10 schools in his recruitment, and the Vols made that list along with Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, and USC. He won the Stydahar Award — an annual award given to the state’s top interior linemen — after his junior season at Huntington High School in Huntington, West Virginia last year.
Landing Wright to go along with Morris would be a massive haul for the Vols in this class, and it should set Tennessee up for great success on the offensive line over the next three years.
Tennessee currently has 18 commitments in their 2019 class, and three of those belong to offensive linemen. Morris, four-star Jackson Lampley, and three-star Chris Akporoghene are the Vols’ three current offensive linemen commits in this cycle.
