Top Vols WR Target Down to Three Schools, Focused on Decision
Elic Ayomanor used the month of June to squeeze in five official visits, including stops at Cal, Standford, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. With time to reflect on each visit and work through his checklist, Ayomanor is down to three schools, including Stanford, Cal and Tennessee.
So, why is Tennessee in the fold?
"It was a family feel," Ayomanor said about the Vols. "The new staff did a really good job of creating that. I think they are a long way into it already being built. Although they are not as highly ranked as Cal and Stanford academically, I think a big part of Tennessee Football in itself brings a lot of connections in the academic world because it's Tennessee and you play football there. I think from a networking standpoint, which is what you get at those high academic institutions, it checks the boxes there because it is an SEC school and it does have a lot of networking opportunities there."
Tennessee invested plenty of time into showing Ayomanor those networking opportunities, including connecting him with Grant Frerking and prominent names in his Major field of Dentistry.
"I got a lot of that," Ayomanor said. "They mentioned that he was going to be working with NILU, and another big thing was they just showed me the connections that they could provide to me. I want to be a dentist, and they got me in contact with a bunch of opportunities. Their team dentist, I had a meeting with him. Coach (Kodi) Burns connected me with some of the dentists he has had from players before, and they just did a good job of showing me that they network just like the higher academic schools, so that is what I was most impressed by."
Ayomanor continues to hear from each school involved, and he has built a strong with bond with Tennessee's wide receivers coach, Kodi Burns. This is the case at each school, but he knows he will have to make some tough phone calls in the next few weeks.
"I haven't made a specific date yet," he sai about a decision timeline. "I am going to start calling the coaches within the next week of when I am going to make a decision, so it should be really soon."
So what is it going to come down for in the coming weeks for Ayomanor?
"We have kind of already gone through the checklist," he said. "So right now, it is really going to be how I feel in my guy. My mom said at the end of the day that she knows where she wants me to go, but she wants me to go where I want to go, so leaving it up to me and just saying go with what you want to do."
Whenever the time comes, Ayomanor provided insight on what he thinks his commitment will bring to the team he pledges to.
"The thing that I think is that I am somebody that is going to outwork everybody," he said. "I am going to be a non-verbal leader, and by that, I mean that everybody is going to see me working and want to work as well. I am going to contribute to that hard-working environment and contribute to the success of a program. At the end of the day, that is what success is built off of."