Tennessee’s men’s basketball team has a player on their roster who hails from France. Tennessee’s football team might soon be able to say the same thing.
Andy-Jeffrey M’ba is a four-star defensive tackle who is originally from France and now plays in the United States. The Vols sent an offer out to him a little over a month ago, and now the talented defensive tackle has included the Vols among his list of top schools along with Oregon, Penn State, Florida, Arizona, and Virginia.
THIS MY TOP 6
March 23 in france ..@oregonfootball @Vol_Football @UVAFootball @GatorsFB @ArizonaFBall @PennStateFball pic.twitter.com/hlPP0C3mKk— A.J ⚙️m’ba?? (@71THANOS) March 15, 2019
M’ba plans on announcing his college commitment on March 23rd back in France.
The talented Frenchman is listed as the No. 341 overall prospect and No. 25 defensive tackle in the 247Sports Composite rankings. He’s considered one of the best (if not the best) international prospect in the 2020 class by multiple international recruiting outlets. He’s listed at 1.98 meters tall and weighs 144 kilograms per European measurements on their recruiting sites. In U.S. terms, that’s around 6-foot-5, 317 pounds.
You can see our full conversation with Jeffrey M’ba shortly after he picked up an offer from the Vols over on RTI Premium!
M’ba was originally supposed to be a part of the 2019 class but had to reclassify. He was supposed to come over from France and play for St. Frances Academy in Connecticut for the 2018 season. But something happened with his admissions process to St. Frances, and his enrollment ended up being delayed by three months. M’ba ended up enrolling at St. Thomas More in Connecticut instead, and that’s where he’ll play this upcoming season.
The large defensive tackle prospect is a little raw, which makes sense considering he only started playing football a few years ago. Though he’s still relatively new to the sport, he already has a lot of potential and has learned quite a bit in a short period of time.
M’ba has really good strength and speed, and he knows how to use both. He can plow through blockers and is a good tackler when he gets his hands on the ball carrier. It’s obvious he has quite a bit still to learn from a technique perspective, but there’s a lot of potential there for him as well. He has a very large frame and moves exceptionally well with his weight. He’s physical and is a determined defender.
In three recorded games in the US according to MaxPreps, M’ba recorded nine tackles, three sacks, and five tackles for loss for St. Thomas More last season.
Tennessee signed three defensive tackles in their 2019 recruiting class, and they have one committed to them in their 2020 class already. Four-star defensive tackle Dominic Bailey is the only defensive tackle to commit to the Vols in the 2020 class so far, but UT is likely to go after another defensive tackle or two this cycle.
M’ba will be watched very closely over the spring and summer as he visits schools and into the fall for his last year of high school. It’ll be interesting to track his recruitment over the coming months, even though he’ll be committed to a school during the process.
