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The recruiting world is always interesting, it never stops. Momentum is a very real thing, as evidenced by Tennessee’s absolute tear through this week. The Volunteers landed two five-star prospects, two four-star prospects, along with the nation’s top JUCO running back. They may add even more this weekend.
The response throughout the college football world has been interesting. Of course, you get the average football fan accusing Tennessee of paying players, that much is normal. But check out what Georgia and Oklahoma did.
Georgia’s football account ever so conveniently tweeted out highlights from their win at Neyland Stadium this year, just hours after Terrence Lewis announced his commitment to Tennessee.
Check out all the FIREWORKS from our third consecutive win over Tennessee‼️#GoDawgs #ATD pic.twitter.com/00zYwmwWUT
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) April 30, 2020
And then you’ve got Oklahoma, where an assistant coach posted a picture of Sterling Shepard flying into the endzone in their overtime win from 2015. His tweet below reads, “Don’t fall for the hype ... it’s not real.”
All eyes on #Tennessee .... OU coach subtweeting. I love it! pic.twitter.com/6fjxCxGaNn
— Jayson Swain (@SwainEvent) May 1, 2020
Later in the day on Friday, we got this from the Oklahoma football account — a timely tweet featuring highlights of the game that the assistant coach referenced above. Tennessee plays at Oklahoma this season during week two, for what it’s worth.
It doesn’t get much better than #SoonerMagic silencing Rocky Top in 2015.
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) May 1, 2020
Full https://t.co/YZrkloOHnd pic.twitter.com/bvzLtnxudD
Tennessee’s class is now ranked 3rd nationally, according to 247Sports. That’s good enough to be the current No. 1 class in all of the SEC. The Volunteers haven’t recruited at this level since 2015, when they pulled in the 4th ranked class in the country. That group would help push Tennessee into the AP top ten in 2016, following a 5-0 start.
There’s still plenty of time to go and the dust is far from settling, but the Vols are hot — and rivals are noticing. It’s going to be fascinating to see how long this hot streak continues and if they can keep it going after face-to-face recruiting resumes.