Tag: Ethan Utley

Notre Dame offers 2025 Tennessee defensive lineman

The Irish’s are now in the mix for the top defensive lineman

Notre Dame football is still trying to add multiple prospects to its currently No. 1 ranked 2025 recruiting class.

One of those prospects is Tennessee defensive lineman [autotag]Ethan Utley[/autotag]. The 6-foot, 4-inch and 270-pound prospect was offered a scholarship by the Irish, adding to his already impressive list.

As the No. 11 defensive lineman and 113th overall prospect according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, Utley is a wanted player. It won’t be easy luring him away from his home state, as the Volunteers are making a big push for his services.

The positive is that the Irish have pull across the nation while recruiting prospects, so that shouldn’t be much of a deterrent for Notre Dame.

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No. 1 2025 in-state defensive lineman set for a return visit to Tennessee

The No. 1 in-state defensive lineman is set for a return visit to Tennessee.

Four-star defensive lineman Ethan Utley will visit Tennessee for the Vols’ Rocky Top Kickoff event Saturday.

The 6-foot-4, 275-pound defensive lineman is from Ensworth School in Nashville, Tennessee.

Utley is the No. 161 overall prospect and No. 18 defensive lineman in the class of 2025. He ranks as the No. 1 defensive lineman and No. 7 player in Tennessee, according to On3 industry rankings.

The 2025 prospect recorded 25 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks and two pass breakups in nine games as a sophomore last season.

Utley’s visit will be his first since the Tennessee-Kentucky game at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 29, 2022. Tennessee is one of Utley’s top 12 schools for his commitment.

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Vols make top 12 for No. 1 2025 in-state defensive lineman

Tennessee is one of 12 schools for the No. 1 in-state defensive lineman.

Four-star defensive lineman Ethan Utley announced his top 12 schools on Tuesday.

Tennessee, Michigan, North Carolina, Miami, Florida, Oklahoma, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Penn State, Texas, Georgia and Texas A&M are Utley’s top 12 schools.

The 6-foot-4, 275-pound defensive lineman is from Ensworth School in Nashville, Tennessee.

Utley is the No. 154 overall prospect and No. 18 defensive lineman in the class of 2025. He ranks as the No. 1 defensive lineman and No. 7 player in Tennessee, according to On3 industry rankings.

Utley finished his sophomore season with 25 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks and two pass breakups in nine games.

Tennessee is the early favorite in Utley’s recruitment, according to On3s Recruiting Prediction Machine.

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Clemson continues to make impression with top 2025 DL

Clemson continues to make a huge impression on one of the nation’s top young defensive line prospects, who hails from the Volunteer State. In fact, Ensworth (Nashville, TN.) defensive end Ethan Utley – a 6-foot-4, 250-pound freshman in the 2025 …

Clemson continues to make a huge impression on one of the nation’s top young defensive line prospects, who hails from the Volunteer State. 

In fact, Ensworth (Nashville, TN.) defensive end Ethan Utley — a 6-foot-4, 250-pound freshman in the 2025 class —is the apple of Lemanski Hall’s eye and has received extensive interest from the Tigers since he visited for a game this past fall.

During the live period, Hall made sure to visit with Utley at Ensworth on multiple occasions.

“Coach Ski stopped by my school earlier (last month),” Utley told The Clemson Insider in mid-May. “That was cool to see him again. We couldn’t say too much because of all those rules. But, it was cool to see Coach Ski again, just telling me how I need to come back this summer and if I don’t make it this summer, just come back for a game, like I did in the fall.”

Since Utley has already been to Clemson multiple times, he said that he wanted to make sure he checked out a few major spots this summer before he makes his way back up to Tiger Town.

“Going back to Clemson multiple times, I know what they offer,” he said. “I know what their goal is with their student-athletes that they’re recruiting and it’s just something I enjoy.”

At the time of our conversation last month, Utley locked in visits to Texas A&M, Michigan, Kentucky and South Carolina.

And while he may not be able to make it to Clemson and return Hall’s favor, Utley is appreciative that Clemson’s defensive ends coach continues to make an effort to see him.

“It’ll be cool to continue to see him and continue to enjoy the process of building me and Coach Ski’s relationship,” Utley said.

For Utley, Clemson has always been one of his dream schools.

“Knowing that I’m still heavy on their radar and knowing that they still haven’t forgotten about me,” he said, “despite the fact that it’s not in season and I don’t have any film or any of that to put out there it’s just fun and a great feeling to have one day when I know they’re still out there recruiting me.

In addition to Clemson, Utley mentions schools like Texas A&M, Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt, as the programs currently recruiting him the hardest.

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LSU offers 2025 Tennessee defensive lineman

The Tigers have already extended an offer to Ethan Utley, a current high school freshman.

It’s never too early to get started recruiting the possible next great stars on the college football scene.

Last weekend, coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] hosted a lot of possible future LSU Tigers and sent out a lot of offers. One of those was a young guy from the class of 2025.

[autotag]Ethan Utley[/autotag] is a 6-foot-4 250-pound defensive lineman from Nashville, Tennessee. He started last year as a freshman for the Ensworth Tigers who finished the season 7-4 with a first-round playoff loss to Baylor.

There is a lot of time between now and Utley’s signing day. It will be fun to watch the growth of this kid as an athlete and see how high he climbs the recruiting rankings.

Ethan Utley’s Recruiting Profile

Film

LSU Wire breaks down his full profile.

Big-time Tennessee DL enjoyed Clemson experience, getting to talk in-depth with Eason & Hall

Clemson made a huge impression recently while playing host to one of the nation’s top young defensive line prospects, who hails from the Volunteer State. Ensworth (Nashville, TN.) defensive end Ethan Utley – a 6-foot-4, 250-pound freshman in the …

Clemson made a huge impression recently while playing host to one of the nation’s top young defensive line prospects, who hails from the Volunteer State.

Ensworth (Nashville, TN.) defensive end Ethan Utley — a 6-foot-4, 250-pound freshman in the 2025 class — made his second visit to campus on Saturday, March 12 for the Tigers’ underclassmen day.

“It was great,” Utley told The Clemson Insider. “It was great to hear Coach Swinney talk about the logistics of the program and how things work around there. It was great to hear more about the P.A.W. Journey more in-depth because I remember I heard about it for the first time from the game day visit. It was great to see the practice. The practice was really exciting and something I wouldn’t mind being a part of.”

Believe it or not, his favorite part of the visit itself was getting to go down the slide.

Utley, who has a prior connection to Lemanski Hall, got to see Clemson’s defensive ends coach in his element and watched him run a practice, during his campus visit,

“It was great like it showed a lot about how he’s comfortable with how he interacts with his players,” Utley added. “It was great to see from my lens and I was loving Coach Nick Eason’s energy and what he was doing with the interior d-linemen. I love how controlled and how technically sound their group is.”

What did Utley hear from Hall during his campus visit?

“He was just talking about how I need to get back, so I can workout at Clemson one day and how they just loved having me back,” Utley said. “He’ll be back in Nashville for one of my spring practices.”

Hall previously told Utley that he should focus on building a relationship with Eason as well.

“I heard a lot,” Utley said regarding what he heard from Eason. “Me and Coach Eason talked for a really long time, just like talking about the game more than life. It was just great hearing from him. We were just talking about more than football basically. It was great being able to actually talk with him in-depth more one-on-one. It was a real cool experience to hear him know some people that I know that are close to me in my circle at Ensworth. That was a real cool experience.”

According to Utley, Clemson essentially passed along the message that if he keeps coming back and visiting that he’ll likely be offered by the time June 1 rolls around when he is a rising junior at Ensworth.

“Me and Coach Swinney talked and he was just saying how I need to come back and camp,” he said. “Then, Coach Hall said that the offer would come early in my junior year. It would be great (to earn an offer), I feel like at that point I’ll have established myself in the country and probably be one of the best. To add that offer, it would for sure put me on the map even on another level, considering the program that Clemson is.”

How does Utley feel about that?

“I really understand it,” he said, “because like Coach Swinney said in front of everybody, he doesn’t even know us yet. So, once a junior year comes around, it’s already two seasons that you have under your belt as a player and a person. I’m very understanding of that.”

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Fast-rising Volunteer State DL with connection to Hall will be at Clemson this weekend

Clemson is set to play host to one of the nation’s best freshmen, who already has carved out a solid relationship with defensive ends coach Lemanski Hall. Ensworth (Nashville, TN.) 2025 defensive lineman Ethan Utley will be on campus this Saturday, …

Clemson is set to play host to one of the nation’s best freshmen, who already has carved out a solid relationship with defensive ends coach Lemanski Hall.

Ensworth (Nashville, TN.) 2025 defensive lineman Ethan Utley will be on campus this Saturday, March 12, and he confirmed that via Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.

“The last time we spoke was in January,” Utley told The Clemson Insider last month. “We were just talking about my recruitment and how spring football will be like a good time for me to come back to Clemson.”

After we spoke with Utley, he indicated that he was going to call Hall sometime soon to figure out a good date for him to visit. Obviously, we now know that he landed on this Saturday.

“I remember that I told my head coach that I wanted to go back for spring practice and also the spring game in April,” he said. “I was going to call Coach Ski sometime soon to let him know that I was gonna plan on coming.”

Utley is looking forward to seeing Hall in his element. This will be his first time getting to see Clemson’s defensive ends coach coaching practice and his position group.

“That would be real cool because I know on game day that’s after a week of preparation rather than seeing the actual preparation firsthand,” Utley said. “I feel like that would be real cool to see how (Coach Hall) communicates. I know how me and his relationship is, but I feel like it would be cool to see how he like talks and communicates with his players in a real practice.”

In addition to his relationship with Hall, Utley got the chance to speak with Nick Eason while he was at Auburn, but he has not spoken to him since he got hired at Clemson. Utley knows that Clemson’s defensive tackles coach followed him on Twitter and Hall has told him that he needs to work on starting to build a relationship with Eason also.

“I knew he was a cool person,” Utley said of Eason, “because our strength and conditioning coach knows him personally. He was like, ‘Oh, he’s a real cool dude.’ When I spoke with him he told me to keep working and that he’d keep an eye on me. I could tell that he meant that intimately.

“It’s cool that he already knew about me, but I feel like me and him could get to know each other on a higher level now that he’s at Clemson with Coach Ski. I’m looking forward to that.”

Utley is pretty sure that both Hall and Eason have gotten a hold of his freshman year film, so he’s anticipating that he’ll hear some feedback once he gets to campus this weekend. 

“As a freshman, I feel like I put enough on film,” Utley said. “I know looking and watching back over it, I feel like I could have done a lot more in the smaller aspects of the game that most D1 coaches look for. I feel like the year went well, but I’m just very excited to see because everyone’s first year, you’re gonna have jitters and stuff like that. I’m just excited to see how I evolve in my game and become more comfortable within the system we run at Ensworth.”

He’s starting to see his hard work pay off as offers from Ole Miss, Memphis and Liberty have rolled in since the start of the new year.

Utley was at the University of Tennessee on March 5 and after he visits Clemson this weekend, he plans on making his way to Cincinnati. He currently holds offers from both the Volunteers and Bearcats.

Ever since Utley’s freshman season ended, he’s been telling himself that everything that happened this past season is over and he has a new year ahead of him. He’s been working hard in the weight room and his agility.

As we get to know Utley more and more, we wanted to ask him non-football-related questions to get to know him as a person and what he’s about.

“I feel like I’m a great cook,” he said. “That’s one thing I’ve seemed to pick up over the years, like as I grew up. I kind of fell in love with cooking, just messing around in the kitchen.”

Utley is appreciative when he’s asked about more than just football because it’s gonna be more than that at some point in his life. That’s what he likes about Hall, who will ask him about how his mom’s doing and shift the conversation to other things that don’t necessarily have to do with football.

He’s looking forward to doing a mix of both with Hall this weekend.

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Emerging target loves ‘everything Clemson stands for’

A target in the class of 2025 has emerged for Clemson. Even though he’s only a freshman, Ensworth (Nashville, TN.) defensive lineman is already receiving interest from the Tigers. He was in attendance for Clemson’s 48-27 win over Wake Forest on …

A target in the class of 2025 has emerged for Clemson.

Even though he’s only a freshman, Ensworth (Nashville, TN.) defensive lineman is already receiving interest from the Tigers. He was in attendance for Clemson’s 48-27 win over Wake Forest on Saturday, Nov. 20 at Memorial Stadium.

“Clemson was great. It was really cool meeting Coach [Lemanski Hall] in person for the first time, considering he used to coach at the high school I go to,” Utley told TCI. Coach [Miguel] Chavis and Coach [Todd] Bates gave me real good vibes when I first got there. It was a great overall experience altogether.”

After Utley’s first high school game, he was followed on Twitter by a handful of Clemson staff members. His head coach at Ensworth has been in communication with Clemson’s staff and passing along information to Utley, but never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that he’d go on a visit to Clemson.

“Even though I’m young, I’ve always liked Clemson as a school and everything Dabo Swinney stands for and how motivated he keeps his players and how many championships they win,” he said.

Clemson was honest and open with Utley about the recruitment process. He understands that the earliest he can get offered is when he’s a rising junior, but that doesn’t change his level of excitement and building a relationship with Bates, Hall and the rest of the staff.

“It felt great,” Utley added. “I was smiling really hard and I was lit up by the fact that Clemson University wanted me and I’m only a freshman. That felt big, especially meeting Dabo my first time there, it was pretty cool and something I’ll never forget.”

What would a potential Clemson offer mean to Utley?

“It would mean a lot,” he said. “I know it’s early, but I feel like Clemson will be one of my top schools because Dabo Swinney, he’s just a really cool person. Especially after meeting him…I love the way they grind. I just love everything Clemson stands for.”

And while the Tigers have shown significant interest in him, they, of course, aren’t the only program that meets the eye for Utley. He already holds offers from the University of Illinois, N.C. State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

“A lot of schools, my coach told me, they were very impressed with my film and the skillsets that I have for such a young player in my first year of high school football,” Utley said. “I play in what’s considered the hardest division in high school football in Tennesee. So, what I was doing to my competition, they were very impressed with and they want to jump on the train early to build new relationships early like Coach Bates had told me.”

Utley doesn’t take it lightly that he’s being recruited by a school like Clemson, considering the team’s history that comes with the position he plays on the field.

“It was really cool,” Utley added. “Clemson has been one of my top schools since I started watching college football. The amount of d-lineman they have produced over the years and for me to be a part of that want and that I fit the criteria and the characteristics of the defensive lineman wanted at Clemson is real cool and a great self-accomplishment.”

It was only fitting that the Tigers were accredited with eight sacks while he was in the stands.

“Especially K.J. Henry, he had an amazing game against Wake Forest,” he said. “I usually follow him and Bryan Bresee a lot. It was really cool to see them in person and really watch how they move with themselves and how they lead their D-line so well.

Utley would like to take another unofficial visit to Clemson as soon as he possibly can.

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