21 offensive recruits to know for ‘21: Five-Star OT Amarius Mims
21 for ‘21: Amarius Mims
Continuing our series of 2021 prospects on the offensive side of the ball is arguably the best offensive tackle in the entire country. Tennessee has shown to be a team that is always looking for help on the offensive line anywhere they can get it, especially if that means landing blue chip prospects. Back in 2019 they signed a pair of 5 star book-end tackles in Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright, and this class they got former 5-Star recruit and Knoxville native Cade Mays to transfer to Tennessee from Georgia. In 2021, they’ll try to follow this up with 5-Star Peach State offensive tackle Amarius Mims.
Mims is a 6’7, 315lb offensive tackle from Cochran, Georgia. He plays for Bleckley County HS and is ranked as the number 3 offensive tackle in the class of 2021, and the number 2 player from the state of Georgia. When you turn on the tape, it’s easy to see why Mims is ranked as high as he is. He’s got a nearly perfect frame for a left tackle in the SEC and uses it extremely well, running over just about every DL he’s played the past 2 seasons in 6A Georgia football where there’s quite a bit of talent on the line of scrimmage. At 315, he has no bad weight and is extremely athletic for his size. He also has very long arms and huge hands, and really looks more like a basketball power forward than an offensive linemen when you see him without pads on. This gives him the ability to be dominant in the run game as a second level blocker, where he’s probably at his most dangerous. He’s also solid in pass protection, but he’ll eventually make his money in the league as a run blocker assuming he pans out.
As far as his recruitment has gone, Mims has offers from 17 schools, and 12 of them are in the SEC. this list includes schools such as Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Florida and of course the Vols. He hasn’t necessarily released a top schools to this point and has kept his recruitment pretty much open to everyone, but insiders close to Mims have hinted that Auburn and Georgia are probably the 2 biggest threats to land the 5-Star, with LSU, Alabama and Tennessee also sitting there. This will likely be a situation where the recruit waits until signing day in December or February to make his decision, and in my opinion that will bode well for Tennessee. The Vols will likely have one of the best offensive lines in the country in 2020 with playing time available in 2021, and Mims will get to watch that group work and see how Friend develops them for a full season. This will help Tennessee tremendously with not only Mims, but any offensive line prospect if they impress this year.
Another team to watch is Clemson, as they have not offered but likely will soon. If they offer and push, that’ll make it tough for any school to beat because of the opening they’ll have at offensive tackle in 2021. There are no known visit plans at this time for Mims, but I’d expect that to change over the next month or so as the offseason begins and coaches hit the trail. At this moment, it looks like Mims is the top priority target on the offensive like for Pruitt and staff.