2012 Recruiting

With only two commitments to start July, many had begun to question coach Derek Dooley and staff's recruiting methods. However, after twelve commits in the last twenty-seven days, most doubts and concerns of Vol fans have been answered.

The defensive front seven has been the major focus of the staff's recruiting efforts this offseason, and last month's string of commits made that obvious. Led by highly-touted inside linebacker Dalton Santos and JuCo defensive tackle Damien Jacobs, this year's class will go a long way toward rebuilding the quality depth Tennessee needs to compete for SEC and national championships in the near future.

Here's a look at Tennessee's recruiting thus far:

--Position--Name--Height--Weight--40 Time--Hometown--Star Rating (via Rivals.com)--

QB: Nathan Peterman - 6-2 210 4.8 - Fruit Cove, FL - 3*
RB: Imani Cross - 6-1 229 4.53 - Gainesville, GA - 3*
RB: Alden Hill - 6-2 220 4.58 - Aliance, OH - 3*
WR: Drae Bowles - 6-1 198 4.5 - Jackson, TN - 4*
WR: Keithon Redding - 6-2 200 4.7 - Decatur, GA - 3*
DE: LaTroy Lewis - 6-4 230 4.7 - Akron, OH - 3*
DT: Damien Jacobs(JuCo) - 6-2 300 4.9 - Scooba, MS - Not Ranked
OLB: Justin King - 6-3 215 - Dunwoody, GA - 3*
OLB: Otha Peters - 6-1 221 4.61- Covington, LA - 3*
OLB: Khalid Henderson - 6-1 210 4.8 - Austell, GA - Not Ranked
MLB: Dalton Santos - 6-3 250 4.7 - Van, TX - 3*

CB: Kenneth Crawley - 6-1 170 x - Washington, DC - 4*
ATH: Cody Blanc - 6-1 190 4.4 - Knoxville, TN - 2*
K/P: George Bullock - 6-1 190 x - Knoxville, TN - 2*

***Look for multiple commits [Santos, Peterman, Peters] to get bumped to higher star ratings after they are re-evaluated during the season, as well as, Henderson and Jacobs being evaluated then ranked.

With fourteen future Vols now committed, remaining spots in this year's class are running thin. Due to a lack of available scholarships, the expectation was for the class to only contain around twenty recruits, but with the recent influx of commits, the possibility of this class reaching a full twenty-five is high. With a full class looking more and more possible, only eleven scholarships now remain open. Here's how I feel these eleven scholarships will be distributed:

WR: 2

TE: 1

OL: 2

DE: 2

DT: 2

LB: 1

DB: 1