Freshman Files: Caleb Herring's Enormous Upside

Entering the stretch run in the 2023 class, Tennessee knew it had to close on edge rusher Caleb Herring. The Vols offered the Murfreesboro native in January 2020 after his freshman season of high school, third to only Eastern Kentucky and Kentucky. Tennessee got Herring on campus more than any other program in his recruitment, but national suitors quickly came calling.

Herring had 15 offers after his junior season and was a top-100 player in America on several recruiting websites. However, the months leading into his senior year were when he really jumped onto the scene. Herring added 17 offers between January and April of 2022, including the likes of Georgia, Miami, and USC, who were all major contenders when it came time for him to make a decision. Georgia got him on campus a week before his scheduled decision date, but the long-time Tennessee lean decided to stay home and don orange.

He then compiled a dominant senior season for Murfreesboro High School, tallying 21 tackles for loss and seven sacks in his final season of high school football. Herring was an Adidas All-American before enrolling at the University of Tennessee and beginning practices with the team this spring. Though he just graduated high school, Herring is one of the most talented defensive linemen on Tennessee's roster and could be making more ground up than we thought in his high school evaluation.

The high school tape told us that this was a 1% athlete with a long way to go. He measured 6-5.5 and 205 pounds in high school with ridiculously long arms. Keeping weight on has always been an issue for Herring, but he confirmed in media availability that he's hovering around 225 pounds this spring and wants to be up to 240 pounds by the time the season rolls around. We'll have to see if the drastic weight gain hinders him athletically, but if he comes through with no major differences, he could be one of the top defensive linemen on the team this year.

He does so many things on the high school tape that leave your jaw hanging. Murfreesboro's coaching staff played him as an outside linebacker a lot, letting him cover in space and move. Herring glides like a deer across the field, getting wherever he wants to go effortlessly. Opposing offenses occasionally schemed up play-action bootlegs or quick screens into the boundary early in games. Herring blew them up every time, exploding from his stance at the line of scrimmage to the ball and shutting the idea down.

Murfreesboro ran across many high school teams that ran BOB fronts, or "Big on Big." It's the easiest offensive line scheme where you block the man in front of you and leave a back or tight end to chip the rushing linebacker. While Herring generally blew these plays up, he didn't get a ton of legitimate pass rush reps. He did make several high IQ plays on quarterback-keeper options, unzipping his feet in open space to ensure the quarterback handed the ball before exploding to the back and using those long arms to make a TFL. Herring's early development will be interesting. He could garner an early special teams role, as his arms and speed would be a major asset on the punt block team. His athleticism and size are the two biggest things working in his favor - Herring must put in a lot of work to achieve his ceiling, but he can get there, and the ceiling is certainly worth reaching.

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