Recruiting Battles: Reviewing Tennessee-South Carolina Battles on the Trail for 2021

Tennessee and South Carolina will battle it out on the field tonight, but over the past few years, the two teams have battled off the field, on the recruiting trail. Each week, when applicable, our staff will take a look at the recruiting battles between the two teams playing.

Recent history:

Lately, the Volunteers have had the upper hand on South Carolina in the recruiting world. Tennessee went head to head with the Gamecocks for Jaylen McCollough during the 2019 recruiting cycle before McCollough chose and signed with the Vols. Tennessee overcame multiple late-season trips to Columbia from Len'Neth Whitehead last recruiting cycle before he announced his choice and signed with the Vols in December. Bryce Thompson will be heavily talked about during tonight's contest. He was a long-time South Carolina commit, scheduled to enroll with the Gamecocks over the summer in 2018, but that did not happen, and he ended up in Knoxville. The Gamecocks have won their battles over the recent years too. Jammie Robinson and Jaycee Horn will both start in the secondary tonight, and both guys wanted by Tennessee during their recruitment.

The Present:

The Vols and Gamecocks are not as entrenched in battle as much this recruiting cycle. Tennessee was believed to have bested the Gamecocks for coveted JuCo RB Tiyon Evans earlier this year. Evans has since de-committed, and he has indicated that he is not interested in South Carolina. Conflicting reports suggest that may not be the case, so it will be interesting to see what happens there.

Tennessee's longest-tenured commitment in the 2021 class is wide receiver, Jordan Mosley. He has been committed for over a year, and South Carolina is one of the teams that has not given up on him. Tennessee is pleased with their receiver class, and Mosley adds special teams value, so the Vols will have to work to hold onto him. He recently gave a full update HERE.

The real "battle" is for the state of South Carolina's top prospect and long-time Tennessee target, Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins. Dawkins is one of the most coveted defensive tackles in the country. He has made an impressive physical transformation, and he possesses impressive versatility. The SI All-American candidate is down to Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The Vols have been in his recruitment for a long-time, and they are not going away. He told VR2 on SI last night that he will be paying close attention to this game, what the coaches have been telling him, how he fits in each scheme, and much more. He is coming off of a dominant, multi-sack performance himself, and he talked Tennessee, tonight's match-up, and the player Jeremy Pruitt compared him to HERE.