Tennessee Volunteers Open Fall Practices without Two Class of 2015 Signees
Written by Ryan Wright
The Tennessee Volunteers have a Smokey Mountain size of momentum on their side heading into the 2015 college football season. The Volunteers put the breaks on four consecutive losing seasons in 2014 finishing 7-6 with a dominating 45-28 TaxSlayer Bowl win over Iowa and enter the fall with 17 returning starters.
Butch Jones’ on the field success in his first two years in Knoxville have the Tennessee faithful full of high hopes of a return to greatness especially knowing the amount of talent the Volunteers have brought to campus lately. When all the ink dried on the 2015 recruiting class Tennessee had signed 29 commitments with four ranked as 5-star recruits and 13 classified as a 4-star with the overall class being ranked No. 5 in the nation by Rivals.
Tennessee begins fall camp on Tuesday but will take the field without two Class of 2015 recruits, wide receiver Preston Williams and offensive lineman Zach Stewart.
Williams, a five-star recruit by Scout and 247Sports, may not be completely lost to Tennessee. The 6’4”, 180 pound, wide out from Hampton, Georgia, is still dealing with the loss of his mother who died in May.
Stewart, a 4-star recruit out of Coalfield, Tennessee, is still awaiting clearance from the NCAA to enroll at UT. Stewart (6’4”, 320) was one of six offensive line signees in the 2015 class that included 5-star Memphis recruit Drew Richmond.
Jones commented on Williams’ delay in joining the Volunteers stating, “We will welcome him when he feels he’s ready to come back and I just ask that you keep him and his family in all of your thoughts and your prayers, as they go through something that’s very hard and very challenging in their personal lives.”
The Volunteers full assortment of 29 players had already lost two signees when Murfreesboro tight end Kyle Oliver and Knoxville area wide receiver/return specialist Joquez Bruce (blueshirt) left the team.
Photo credit: ajc.com; Preston Williams with mom (left) and dad (right) on National Signing Day.