Tag: Tennessee football

Jaelyne Matthews announces college commitment date…did Rutgers football make his top four?

Rutgers football was the first program to offer offensive lineman Jaelyne Matthews.

New Jersey offensive lineman Jaelyne Matthews announced on Friday a commitment date. Matthews, who received his first offer from Rutgers, also is trimming down his decision list even further.

A decision date was supposed to be in July has moved up a month as Matthews announced that his college commitment will take place on June 3 at 2:00 PM. He also announced a top four in his recruitment that includes Rutgers.

Matthews told Rutgers Wire that Georgia, Miami, Tennessee and Rutgers will be the four programs in the mix for his college commitment in six weeks’ time. Maryland and Syracuse made Matthews’ top six but were not included in his current cutdown.

An offensive lineman at Toms River North (Toms River, New Jersey), ESPN ranks Matthews as the No. 93 recruit in the nation and the second-best player in New Jersey.

Last week, Matthews took a visit to Tennessee.

 

He is committed to play in the Under Armour All-America Game.

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This spring, Matthews is playing lacrosse to improve his footwork and coordination as well as continue to work on his offseason  conditioning.

Jayden Loftin talks about his recent Rutgers football offer, upcoming Tennesse visit

Jayden Loftin discusses his recruitment, recent Rutgers football offer.

Jayden Loftin was offered by Rutgers football over the weekend, putting the Big Ten program very much in the mix one of New Jersey’s top players.

Rutgers is now in the mix for Loftin he says. And it is a busy time in his schedule, with a visit to the Tennessee Volunteers on tap for this weekend.

He is a 6-foot-4 and 235-pound edge rusher from Somerville (Somerville, New Jersey) and is part of the class of 2025.

He is the No. 42 edge rusher in the nation and the No. 20 overall rospect in New Jersey in this current class according to 247Sports. Over the weekend, Loftin took an unofficial visit to Rutgers.

It was on that visit that head coach [autotag]Greg Schiano[/autotag] offered Loftin.

“It felt real good to have an offer from the hometown team,” Loftin told Rutgers Wire.

“They are building something special there.”

Loftin took a dive into the particulars of the offer from Schiano and his reaction to the program officially getting involved in his recruitment.

“Coach Schiano really emphasized what the program stood for and what he wanted for the program in years to come,” Loftin said.

“I like the F.T.C. (mantra) because that is something my family has really drilled into me since I was little so it was very relatable.

“They are in my top 10 for sure, I enjoyed the visit.”

As for an official visit, Loftin said he is booked with his four official visits “so we didn’t discuss anything about an official visit.”

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His four visits are:

  • West Virginia (May 31-June 2)
  • Tennessee (June 7-9)
  • Minnesota (June 14-16)
  • Penn State (June 21-23)

This upcoming weekend, Loftin has an unofficial visit to Tennessee.

“I’ve never been but the coaching staff has been in frequent contact and I’ve enjoyed talking them,” Loftin said.

Joe Milton III celebrated an impressive deep throw at Tennessee’s pro day with a backflip

Former Tennessee QB Joe Milton looks like a fascinating NFL Draft prospect.

Former Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton III has one of the most thrilling arms of any of this year’s NFL Draft prospects.

At the school’s Pro Day on Wednesday, Milton put his astounding deep passing abilities to use as he showed NFL teams what he’s capable of doing on the field.

After throwing a thrilling deep ball down the field with relative ease, Milton did an impressive backflip to celebrate.

While Milton might not go as highly in this year’s draft as some of the other quarterbacks on the board, his athletic potential and clear strengths as a pure passer should entice an NFL team to take a chance on his ceiling.

Tennessee saw one of its former quarterbacks drafted last year with Hendon Hooker in the third round by the Detroit Lions, and Milton should follow in his footsteps as being the next promising Volunteers signal caller in the NFL.

It’s just a matter of where he’ll go and what he’ll be able to do when he gets there. At the least, he’s capable of throwing a mighty fine deep pass.

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Who made the top six for 4-star Under Armour All-American Jaelyne Matthews?

Jaelyne Matthews gives an update to his recruitment.

Jaelyne Matthews rolled out his top six this week, representing another milestone for one of the nation’s top recruits.

Matthews is an elite prospect and a consensus four-star offensive tackle from Toms River North (Toms River, New Jersey). Nationally, he is the No. 88 recruit in the class of 2025 according to ESPN.

He is the tenth-best offensive tackle in the nation and the No. 75 overall recruit per On3 and will participate in Under Armour All-America Game this January.

His recruitment was opened up in September after having been committed to Penn State for much of 2023.

On Sunday night, he announced a top six of Tennessee, Georgia, Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Miami.

“I feel as though now it is easier to focus on the top schools that appeal to me,” Matthews told USA TODAY High School Sports. “And that have been not just recruiting me but building a relationship with me and my family and coaches.”

Matthews is hoping to go to college for sports medicine or a related field like that. While his cutdown is still fresh, he does know what he wants in a school.

“Great football and great coaching that accepts everyone into their family,” Matthews said.

In terms of a timetable, Matthews has a date set but seems open to something moving sooner.

“July 14, or sooner,” Matthews said.

“Just got to watch out for the updates.”

Four-star Jaelyne Matthews announces his top six, including Rutgers football

Jaelyne Matthews now has a top six.

Jaelyne Matthews, one of the top offensive linemen in the nation, announced his top six on Sunday. In it, he included Rutgers football.

Rutgers was the first program to offer Matthews when he was a freshman. He visited the Scarlet Knights in the fall for the win over Wagner.

A four-star offensive tackle. Matthews is coming off a solid year at Toms River North (Toms River, New Jersey). He is ranked the No. 88 player in the nation by ESPN and No. 75 by On3.

Last year, he was selected to play in the Under Armour All-America Game.

His top six, which was released on Sunday night, are Tennessee, Georgia, Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Miami.

 

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Rutgers is expected to get an official visit from Matthews, who had to cancel his original date in June due to a scheduling conflict. Last week, he gave an update about Rutgers getting an official visit:

“We’re still booking a midweek visit for them, trying to figure it out. The recruiting process it’s a little difficult sometimes. The weekends, they only give you four weekends really to go on official visits because of the dead periods and I have prom one of the weekends, so I couldn’t really go that weekend and I changed it a little bit because of that,” Matthews told Rutgers Wire on Feb. 27.

“So I only have three weekends for official visits so I’m trying to figure out when for Rutgers to book my first visit – probably during the week. I would love to be able to play at that school and be the hometown hero in New Jersey.

“To put Rutgers on the map, nationally. They definitely got a lot of national attention when they were in the game with Ohio State and then in the bowl game they beat Miami. They havc changed a lot since Greg Schiano has gotten there. He’s changed the program for the better and I’m happy for the team.”

In September, Matthews opened up his recruitment after having been committed to Penn State for much of the year.

 

The 49ers seemingly borrowed that Jauan Jennings Super Bowl trick play from his days at Tennessee

Talk about a … throwback! 

The San Francisco 49ers scored the first touchdown of Super Bowl 58 on a nifty trick play that featured wide receiver Jauan Jennings throwing a pass to running back Christian McCaffrey for the score.

However, it sure looked like 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan took some inspiration from Jennings’ days at Tennessee.

The SEC’s Twitter (X) account shared an old play from Jennings’ days as a Tennessee Volunteer in which he nailed a very similar version of that play for a touchdown to quarterback Josh Dobbs. Talk about a … throwback!

San Francisco fans will remember this play for a long time regardless of the outcome, and it certainly looks like the 49ers owe a little bit to Tennessee for the idea.

Check out how these plays mirror each other below.

Shanahan is one of the game’s brightest minds, and it’s really neat that he was able to pull this play from Jennings’ past and run a really similar version of it to success during a Super Bowl.

It was the only touchdown for either team in the Super Bowl’s first half, making this an even cooler moment to look back on.

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Game-by-game predictions for Alabama’s 2024 season

With all the changes in the Alabama football program, how is the Crimson Tide expected to perform in 2024? Here are are-by-game predictions.

Alabama football is roughly a month into the 2024 offseason and it has been an absolute whirlwind. After losing to Michigan in the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal, head coach Nick Saban decided to retire and chaos ensued.

The Crimson Tide hired former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer to be the successor to Saban, and he has his work cut out for him.

Once DeBoer was brought on staff, a handful of players hit the transfer portal and some high-profile commits reopened their recruitments, though he was able to land a re-commitment from five-star wide receiver Ryan Williams. However, that’s not where the uncertainty ends for Alabama.

The 2024 season will not just come with more than just a new coach on the sidelines of Bryant-Denny Stadium and a somewhat new-looking team on the field. The SEC welcomes in two new teams and has gotten rid of divisions, the College Football Playoff format expanded to 12 teams and the questions stemming from the transfer portal and name, image, likeness policy have yet to be answered.

How will all of this impact Alabama’s performance next season? For a clear answer, we will have to wait and see. For now, let’s try our best to make some predictions.

5-star quarterback George MacIntyre commits to Tennessee football

George MacIntyre commits to Tennessee.

Tennessee football is keeping an important player in-state with the commitment of George MacIntyre on Monday morning. MacIntyre is a five-star quarterback and will be the foundation of Tennessee’s recruiting class.

He is a class of 2025 recruit from Brentwood Academy (Brentwood, Tennessee).

MacIntyre is ranked the No. 15 player in the nation in the 247Sports Composite. He is the third-best quarterback in the composite’s national ranking.

At 6-foot-5 and 185 pounds, the pro-style quarterback gives Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel a very strong addition to what is already a strong recruiting class for the Volunteers.

The top-ranked player in Tennessee, MacIntyre’s addition gives Tennesee the tenth-ranked class in the nation. His commitment saw the SEC program move up two spots in the national rankings.

MacIntyre made his announcement on SportsCenter Next, then posted an NFL Films quality commitment video:

 

“This isn’t a decision, it’s a calling,” MacIntyre said in the video.

In a class that now stands at six commits, MacIntyre is the second recruit ranked as a four-star. He is the first in-state player to commit in the class.

He held offers from Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, LSU and Miami among others.

Most intriguing transfer portal options at defensive end

Most intriguing transfer portal options at defensive end #GoBucks

We already broke down our expectations for how Ohio State could handle the quarterback position (which it has handled) and then dove into the possible running backs (which it has also handled). We also recently covered the wide receiver position (if things break a certain way), tight ends, and offensive tackle, guards, and of course, the center position that was also already addressed by the staff. But now, we move on to the defensive side of the ball and we will start at defensive end.

Most of the guys on this list have committed already and the winter transfer portal is winding down. Still, these lists also provide the landing spot for these players, which tell an interesting story within the national landscape. For example, Indiana made some heavy-hitting moves in the transfer portal on the offensive side of the football. but let’s see which teams went out of their way to add one of the following big fish.

Early record expectations for Texas and fellow SEC teams in 2024

We set early record expectations for SEC football teams in 2024.

The 2023 college football season is over, but we are ready to fast forward to 2024. The Texas Longhorns (12-2) were great over the last season. Continue reading “Early record expectations for Texas and fellow SEC teams in 2024”