Pair of Vols Tight End Commits Among Elite of Elite, Make Inaugural SI99 List

Sports Illustrated All-American has continued to rank and evaluate prospects for months on end, and today, the inaugural reveal of the SI99 took place. SI's

Sports Illustrated All-American has continued to rank and evaluate prospects for months on end, and today, the inaugural reveal of the SI99 took place. 

SI's Director of Recruiting, John Garcia, had this to say about the release: 

“Our ranking of the top 99 reflects where the game of football is going. We’ve refined position groups. We’ve eliminated the outside linebacker position, because those guys in today’s game are more edge rushers, and added the nickel position. We’ve broken receivers and tight ends into two groups each -- slot and wide receivers, and traditional (Y) and hybrid (H) tight ends. 

“But one part of the game that hasn’t changed is the focus on protecting and destroying the quarterback. Our top five players illustrate the point -- two are defensive ends and one an offensive tackle.”

Two of Tennessee's tight end commits in Hudson Wolfe and Miles Campbell are rated among the best. 

Wolfe was ranked as the Nation's 64th best prospect, while Campbell came in at 94th overall. 

Wolfe was recently ranked as the nation's 4th best Y-TE prospect, with the write-up from Edwin Weathersby saying: Wolfe is staying in-state and committed to Tennessee, and the Vols got themselves a good one en route to Knoxville. He’s a classic Y-tight end prospect who is comfortable working detached in the slot in 2x2 sets, as well as an in-line player. Wolfe has some savvy as a route-runner, showing avoidability of underneath traffic in his stems. He can execute inside verticals and slot fades, plus use his size to pin coverage away from catch points on sit routes. We’ve also seen Wolfe execute wheel-routes from wing alignments. The big man has good hands and eye-tracking, showing both adjust and plucking traits. Head coach Jeremy Pruitt will also love the fact that Wolfe is run-game friendly, showing strength and pride to play to size at collision points and working to finish. He’s definitely a player the Vols should be able to win with.

Campbell was lower down the overall board at 94, but he was higher at the H-TE position, as the nation's 2nd best prospect for the grouping. Weathersby wrote on him: 

Hailing from Georgia, yet committed to Tennessee, Campbell has ideal H-Tight End traits. He possesses some twitch and urgency in his releases both in-line and flexed out, and has plus long speed. Campbell can run deep overs, corners, inside verticals and also align on the perimeter to execute curls and comebacks, among other routes. He can even factor heavily in an offense’s screen package as well. As a blocker, the future Vol is more than willing to attack with solid punch accuracy and generates solid leg-churn post-contact to sustain. When studying Campbell on tape, it becomes easy to see how Tennessee offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and tight ends coach Joe Osovet would be excited to use him as a chess piece to scheme up attacks each week in Knoxville.

Other Vols commits and top prospects flooded the list, which you can check out here.