Tennessee makes top five for four-star linebacker DeMario Tolan

Another top target of Tennessee has released an updated list of his top contenders. DeMario Tolan, a four-star linebacker prospect out of Orlando, placed the Volunteers inside of his top five schools on Monday.

LSU, Miami, Clemson and Florida State rounded out his list, which was released below.

Currently, Tolan is the 256th ranked player in the 2022 class, per the 247Sports Composite rankings. The 6-2, 205 pound prospect is the 27th ranked linebacker in the class, and the 31st ranked player in the stacked state of Florida.

Linebacker has been a focus of Josh Heupel’s staff since arriving in Knoxville, following the early departure of several players from that room. Henry To’o To’o, Quavaris Crouch and Martavius French each left the program, hurting the immediate and future depth of the position. Tennessee was able to add two players back via the portal, adding Juwan Mitchell from Texas and William Mohan from Michigan.

The Volunteers currently hold one linebacker commitment in the 2022 class, coming from three-star Elijah Herring.

Tolan took his official visit to Tennessee right away following the lift on in-person visits at the beginning of June. He’s since taken official looks at LSU and Miami, along with unofficial visits to Florida State and UCF.

Clemson is a new player in Tolan’s picture, offering him on June 1st. He now holds offers from nearly 40 schools in total.

One thing of note here, Tolan’s father is a native of Nashville and grew up as a Tennessee fan. We’ll see how much weight that holds as we get later in the process.