The one 5-star recruit Tennessee football can’t afford to lose in 2021

Tennessee football recruiting can’t afford to lose Terrence Lewis.

Jeremy Pruitt’s Tennessee Volunteers have been on a tear on the recruiting trail this cycle. The Tennessee football recruiting efforts thus far have earned the Vols the No. 1 class in the competitive SEC and the No. 3 class in the nation, according to the 247Sports Team Rankings.

Terrence Lewis is the lone five-star committed to the Vols for the moment, and he’s the one recruit they can’t afford to lose between now and the early signing day period in late December. No matter that the 6-foot-1, 200-pound outside linebacker has been committed to the Vols since April 30, that’s still nearly eight months before he can make it official by signing his letter of intent.

Just because he’s given his verbal doesn’t mean teams like Florida, Alabama and the other top teams in the nation are going to stop. And if the Vols get off to a bumpy start in 2020, it could lead Lewis to reconsider his options and backing off his pledge should the future not look as bright as some are led to think.

Pruitt and his primary recruiter, Brian Niedermayer need to keep recruiting the nation’s No. 1 outside linebacker, No. 2 recruit from the state of Florida and the No. 12 overall recruit, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

Tennessee football recruiting is off to a hot start this cycle with five-star Terrence Lewis on board as Jeremy Pruitt’s top commit.

Lewis is the prototypical linebacker needed in the SEC. He looks like the next coming of Roquan Smith or Dylan Moses. He’s undersized now at 200 pounds and he would need to gain 25-35 pounds over the course of his senior year of high school and first two years at college to get to the type of bulk and strength required to do-it-all in the top conference in college football.

But it’s great that Lewis needs to bulk up rather than re-make his already-made 240-pound body that may have some bad weight. He is a great instinctual player having played at (Miami Northwestern) and against some of the top high school teams in the state of Florida and his weight allows him to fly all over the field.

He should retain that speed and agility as he begins to add strength and weight to his frame. Lewis has already shown he can be a tackling machine in high school because of his ability to make plays in coverage as well as in the backfield and everywhere in between.

Lewis has 24 sacks and 50 tackles for loss in the last two years of high school football so that type of production suggests he can be a potential All-SEC linebacker and an anchor on a Tennessee defense that hopes to be competing with Georgia and Florida for the SEC East crown.

Keeping Lewis in the 2021 Tennessee football recruiting class will help Pruitt’s team close the gap.

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