National Signing Day is like a holiday for college football fans. All the incredible football players that college football have their wildest dreams happen when impact players decide to come to the school their root for. When it comes to Tennessee, there have not been many players to root for. In fact, the program has not given its fans much to root for the last five years honestly. Well, this offseason they finally addressed one place the fans and teams around them have been waiting for.
The Vols offensive line woes have been well-documented. Quarterback Jared Guarantano has been running for his life at times and the running game was one of the worst in the SEC. The offensive line has gotten no push at all and seemed to not have that mean streak good offensive lines are supposed to have. Well, this offseason they were able to get some blue-chip talents there, especially at the offensive tackle position. Wanya Morris was ranked the 6th in at his position and plenty of teams were after him. In the end, Tennessee was able to get him to come to Rocky Top and with that, they got one a physical offensive tackle they needed tremendously.
And along with Morris, the Vols were also able to get another blue-chip offensive tackle in Darnell Wright, who was the second-ranked offensive tackle in this year’s class. With Wright and Morris leading the way, the Vols have upgraded their offensive line talent and should be better in that area this season.
Along with improving up front offensively, the Vols were also lacking playmakers in their front seven. Last season, Coach Jeremy Pruitt had to make magic happen in order to get some stops out of their defense. In this class, however, Pruitt was able to bring in a linebacker that should be a playmaker from the start of his career. Henry To’oto’o was a highly coveted linebacker from the state of California. The four-star linebacker was wanted by many teams for his abilities to make plays at that position. And even though he was out on the West Coast, the Vols were able to reign him in. He immediately becomes a guy the Vols will look to next season to make plays for them in the front seven along with a guy that could be a staple of the program. If he is all that he is billed to be, then he will help upgrade that defense with his mere presence out on the field.
The Vols did a good job this offseason addressing needs and their class was ranked 12th this year, a nine-spot improvement from their 2018 class. If Pruitt can continue to pull players like To’oto’o, Morris and Wright, then the trajectory of the Vols can continue to trend upward. Surely all Vols fans are hoping this is only the beginning of things to come.
