Impact Report: Vols Land Do-It-All Prospect in LB Perry

A look at what the commitment of 2022 LB Kalib Perry brings to Knoxville

A red-hot July on the recruiting trail continues for Josh Heupel's Tennessee program. This time with the addition of SI All-American Candidate Kalib Perry.  The touted 6'4", 215lbs linebacker chose the Vols over Kentucky, Purdue, and Cincinnati.

Background

Perry is a guy whose recruitment was significantly impacted by COVID-19. He started to surge heading into the summer of 2020 before everything got shutdown, but he picked back up where he left off following his junior season. Offers started to roll in, and he impressed at every camp he attended in the month of June. The Great Crossing (Ky.) prospect shows impeccable size and length at 6'4", 215lbs.

Fit

Perry's fit is tough to pinpoint because of how versatile he is. If you turn on the film, he lines up at a different position almost every play. He plays running back and receiver, and he could hold the necessary weight to be a college tight end if he wanted to. However, it appears his future is as a defender. At the prep level, Perry plays a safety-linebacker hybrid role, and he wreaks havoc. At the college level, he projects as an edge rusher, who can add on the necessary weight to put a hand in the dirt if needed but remain agile enough to drop into coverage. Perry will likely get a look at several different positions once he gets to Tennessee, and the Vols staff should have a lot of fun moving him into various roles depending on what set they are.

Impact Rating

Kentucky officially joined the race for Perry 22 days after Tennessee, but he was more than familiar with the home-state program and the staff in Lexington. Tennessee has not won these battles of late against the Wildcats, as Jeremy Pruitt's staff swung and missed on several top targets that ended up in the Bluegrass State, so this is a big win for Tennessee to go into their backyard and pull a prospect that they wanted. More importantly, it adds another prospect with a high upside to Tennessee's 2022 recruiting class, which seems to be gaining momentum week over week.

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