Aaron Willis
Analysis: Vols Secure Commitment from Cerebral Four Star Willis
After the 2019 season concluded, the Tennessee Volunteers saw some coaching turnover across Jeremy Pruitt's staff. One of the changes was Pruitt's decision to promote Joe Osovet to an on-field role as tight ends coach for the Vols. Osovet had been in an off-field role with the Vols previously, but before that he had twice been named the National JUCO coach of the year and was regarded as a bit of an offensive genius thanks to his work with his Bolt Offense. Indeed, Osovet was regarded as a bit of a rising star in the coaching world, and was known to be an excellent JUCO recruiter. Though Osovet had played a big part in several JUCO recruitments for the Vols as well as a few in the northeast, where Osovet has strong ties, there were questions about how Osovet would manage recruiting head-to-head against other Power Five programs. It is safe to say Osovet has put those questions to bed after serving as the lead recruiter on the second four-star commitment for the Vols in as many days. The Vols signed Dominick Bailey in their 2020 class, who was also key in recruiting his former Saint Frances Academy (Baltimore, MD) teammates, 2021 four-star defensive tackle Katron Evans, who committed Saturday, and four-star linebacker prospect Aaron Willis who is the newest Vol commit.
The Vols have been using multiple voices to help recruit the Saint Frances players, such as Osovet, Brian Niedermeyer, Dominick Bailey, and Jeremy Pruitt himself, to name a few. This school has become such a priority for the Vols as it is one of the premier high school programs in the nation, producing players like Willis. Standing at 6’0” and 215 pounds, Willis is not going to be the biggest linebacker that the Vols have on their roster, but he might just be the biggest hitter. Willis has a multitude of physical gifts, but they are all secondary to his mental ones. Willis is a highly intelligent linebacker, the kind of guy that coaches end up referring to as, “A coach on the field.” Willis is rarely out of position on film. He reads and diagnoses plays quickly. He processes that information in a blink, trusts what he is seeing, marries it to his film study, and reacts to a play before most players finish reading their keys. In truth, watching Willis on film, it seems he often has a good idea of what the offense is planning before the ball is snapped. This high IQ kind of play and rapid recognition means that Willis is often moving to where the ball is going, at full speed, before the ball is. The results are some crushing hits on ball carriers.
On film, Willis seems like he never needs to slow down, adjust, or accelerate. He always looks to be running at full bore everywhere he goes on film, and he is always moving toward the ball. The way that Willis reads his keys and reacts means that he can utilize all of his impressive speed, assured he is making the right decision, and move without any hesitation. This means Willis can cover a shocking amount of ground, especially in pass coverage, and that he arrives to deliver thunderous hits. Willis is comfortable in coverage downfield, handling his assignments well and showing he can knock passes down, but on swing and screen passes, he opts to separate the receiver from the ball by arriving like a cannonball. Against the run, Willis is an excellent slide-and-fill linebacker reading the offensive line and filling the hole the running back is looking to hit. Again, Willis punishes ball carriers when he arrives. He wraps up well, but Willis jars opponents when he tackles at best and nearly decapitates them at worst. Willis is capable of taking on blockers to allow his teammates to make plays, and he can also defeat those same blockers either with his strength or speed. Willis is a complete linebacker with impressive speed and strength, that is constantly moving as quickly as he can. When Willis is charged to blitz the quarterback off the edge, he times his blitzes well and usually hits the line at a run, as the ball is snapped. Even coming from a cold start, Willis has an excellent first step, exploding out of his stances and tearing toward the quarterback. That speed makes him a difficult assignment for an offensive tackle, but when he hits the line with a full head of steam, there is little a tackle can hope to do. Willis arrives as a rusher just as he does everywhere else, with bad intentions. Willis hits his opponents clean, but extremely hard. Missing Willis in blitz pickup results in the kind of hits that lead to quarterback fumbles and passers getting happy feet.
Tennessee has made Aaron Willis a priority in the 2021 class, along with some of his teammates. That said, Willis is a massive prize for any program on his own. He is a highly intelligent linebacker that can play inside or outside, on run or passing downs. Willis is one of the, “Four-for-four,” type linebackers that Jeremy Pruitt talks about and covets, and he is also a defender that won't need to come off the field in passing situations. Jeremy Pruitt and Derrick Ansley run a highly complicated defense, but players that can understand that scheme and their role in it quickly can see the field early, much like Henry Too’to’o in 2019. Willis has the kind of intelligence and talent to grasp this defense and what is expected of him in it fast enough to make an early impact in Knoxville. The talented linebacker chose Tennessee over offers from Alabama, LSU, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and Maryland to name a few.