Tennessee Vols endure ups, downs in first Jeremy Pruitt signing class

The finish to Jeremy Pruitt's first signing class wasn't as invigorating as the start. 

The Vols on Wednesday gained six new signatures to go with the 14 signees they landed in December. It left them with a class ranked 20th nationally in the 247Sports Composite, as of Wednesday evening.

“These are the guys that wanted to be part of what we're trying to get done, and we’re excited to have them," Pruitt said.

Adams:UT Vols' second signing day is a letdown

The Vols are trying to finish with a top-20 class. They haven't been ranked outside the top 20 since 2013, Butch Jones' first signing class.

Entering the December signing window, the Vols were ranked in the 50s. Pruitt hit a home run in that December period, reversing the downward trend that occurred as the Vols endured a 4-8 season and a coaching change.

As for Wednesday's National Signing Day, call it a mixed bag.

More:Here's who Tennessee Vols football added on National Signing Day

Tennessee landed the jewel of its class when it held off Alabama and signed JJ Peterson of Colquitt County (Ga.), a four-star prospect ranked third nationally among outside linebackers.

More:Tennessee Vols: Jeremy Pruitt's vision for program key to signing JJ Peterson

"He has a very unique skill at linebacker," Pruitt said. "He could actually play all four (linebacker) positions, inside or outside. He's a guy that can play man-to-man. On third down, he can rush the quarterback. But it's a guy that makes plays in space, also."

The day would have been more celebrated had Tennessee landed Quay Walker, another Georgia standout ranked second nationally at outside linebacker. At his signing ceremony at Crisp County (Ga.), Walker picked up a Tennessee ballcap and put it on his head. Then he tossed it aside, reached under the table and pulled out a straw hat with a Georgia logo on it, joining Kirby Smart's top-ranked signing class.

Pruitt balked at an assessment that cornerback was a position of need — “Who said cornerback was a need in this class?" he asked — but nonetheless, the Vols graduated their two starters and a rotation regular at the position.

More:Tennessee Vols' football recruiting ranking lowest since first Butch Jones class

They were finalists for three acclaimed cornerbacks: five-star Olaijah Griffin, four-star  Isaac Taylor-Stuart and four-star Taiyon Palmer.

They missed on each.

Griffin and Taylor-Stuart picked Southern California. Palmer signed with North Carolina State. 

None of the 20 players Tennessee signed is a cornerback, though on Wednesday it picked up versatile three-star safety Trevon Flowers, who chose the Vols over Clemson.

Two three-star defensive backs — cornerback Brandon Davis and safety Joseph Norwood — are committed to Tennessee, but the Vols didn't announce their signings.

More:UT Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt's vision for program key to signing JJ Peterson

The Vols got defensive end John Mincey, who was also considering South Carolina, but two commits left UT's ranks. Running back Anthony Grant and wide receiver Jordan Young signed with Florida State. The Vols replaced Young with Las Vegas wideout Cedric Tillman, whose top offers before Tennessee swooped in late were from Hawaii and UNLV.

The Vols loaded up on defensive linemen. After signing three in December, they added three on Wednesday — Mincey, Kurott Garland and Emmit Gooden, who initially committed to Tennessee in 2014, then decommitted and required a junior college detour.

"We needed some big men," Pruitt said. "When talk about being good on defense, it starts up front. It starts up the middle. We needed to add size and depth, and we did that."

Pruitt overhauled Tennessee's recruiting board after replacing the fired Jones on Dec. 7. None of the six players the Vols signed Wednesday were holdover commitments from the Jones tenure.

“If you kind of looked at our signing class, I think out of the 20 guys we signed, there’s somewhere between 10 and 12 that had never been on the campus here at Tennessee (before the new staff was hired)," Pruitt said.

Pruitt added that Tennessee might not be finished with this signing class.

As it stands, the class is a lot better than it was two months ago, but it didn't reach the top-15 status it could have achieved if a few more highly touted prospects would have reached for the Tennessee ballcap.

"Obviously, it's going to be a lot easier (for the 2019 signing class) than it was this time, because we're going to start as soon as possible," Pruitt said. "We've actually already started."