Tennessee Volunteers Recruiting: Wiesman Makes It Two To Follow

Way back in the summer, Dylan Wiesman camped at the University of Tennessee and performed well enough in front of former offensive line coach Sam Pittman to earn an offer. Shortly thereafter, the 6-foot-3, 292-pound interior offensive lineman elected to stay at home and play for Butch Jones and the Bearcats.

When Jones left Cincy to become the new Vols head coach, Weisman decommitted. On Friday, he became the second former UC commitment to flip to Tennessee joining tight end commit A.J. Branisel. He had offers from West Virginia, Cincinnati, Ball State, Boston College, Bowling Green and had drawn recent interest from Ohio State. According to Rivals' Paul Fortenberry, Wiesman was scheduled to visit Columbus on Jan. 11, a visit he won't make now.

Ultimately, Wiesman decided to follow Jones and offensive line coach Don Mahoney to Knoxville.

Considering Derek Dooley didn't sign any offensive linemen last year and the Vols only have commitments from Austin Sanders, Brett Kendrick and a very soft commitment from Dan Skipper, UT needs linemen. Though they need tackles more than anything, Wiesman projects to be either a guard or center on the next level. He probably isn't ready to step in and play immediately, but he won't have to.

Wiesman is known to be a nasty, strong lineman but needs a year to develop. To say the least, he wasn't loved by recruiting services, either. 247Sports rates him as a two-star prospect and Rivals has him as a three-star player and the No. 47 guard in the nation. GoVols247's Kevin Ryan said that even though Wiesman is a two-star player, he may get a rankings bump soon.

A lot of restless fans who are clamoring for the four- and five-stars won't like this commitment, but Wiesman is a guy obviously both of our past two coaching staffs liked and also a player Urban Meyer was interested in taking a closer look at. He is the 17th commitment for this class in a year where UT will take at least 25 players and possibly 27 since UT can back-count two. He is the fifth commitment to Butch Jones, joining Branisel, Malik Foreman, Riyahd Jones and Lemond Johnson.

Welcome to Big Orange Country, Dylan!