Top 100 cornerback Damarius McGhee has Tennessee in top 12

There aren’t many remaining needs on the board for Tennessee during the 2021 cycle as things currently stand. 23 commitment leave little room for much of anything more, but cornerback remains a small concern.

One name to watch going forward is Damarius McGhee out of Pensacola, Florida. The 6-1 cornerback narrowed his group of schools to 12 on Thursday, which included Tennessee. Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, West Virginia, N.C. State, Georgia, UAB, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Oklahoma and South Florida were the other schools mentioned.

Tennessee offered McGhee in July of 2019.

In the latest batch of rankings from 247Sports, McGhee was placed inside of the top 100. He landed at 89th overall — the 9th ranked cornerback in the class. He’s been officially clocked at 4.56 in the 40 yard dash, along with a 4.25 in the shuttle.

The Volunteers currently have two true cornerback commitments, both three-star prospects in Nate Evans and Jay Jones. Tennessee will lose Baylen Buchanan after the 2020 season, while junior Bryce Thompson will likely have an NFL decision to make. Jeremy Pruitt’s staff hasn’t had an issue landing blue-chip talent within the front seven and at safety, but they’ve yet to snag big talent at the cornerback position to this point. Even Alontae Taylor and Bryce Thompson were converted athletes. That trend has carried over to the 2021 class, though McGhee could help change that.

As a junior, McGhee picked off six passes. He also played a little quarterback and receiver, doing everything for his high school team. McGhee has the frame and fluidity to develop into a high level corner at the next level.