Tennessee recruiting class falling apart with fourth signee released from NLI

Tennessee football’s recruiting is in shambles after a fourth player was released from his NLI.

The Tennessee football program is between a rock and a hard place with its fourth player from the 2021 recruiting class released from his national letter of intent.

Four-star defensive tackle KaTron Evans joins four-star defensive end, Dylan Brooks, four-star running back Cody Brown and three-star offensive tackle J’Marion Gooch who has been let out of their NLIs since Josh Heupel took over the Tennessee program in February. Brooks, Brown and Gooch have since committed to Auburn, Miami and Missouri respectively since leaving Tennessee.

According to the 247Sports Composite, Evans was the No. 9 player from Maryland, the No. 17 defensive tackle in the country and the No. 196 overall prospect in the 2021 recruiting cycle. The Baltimore native had 39 official offers coming out of high school. If Brooks’, Brown’s and Gooch’s swift commitments to other Power 5 schools are any indication, Evans will find a new team soon.

What does this latest four-star signee leaving Knoxville mean for the Tennessee football program?

Tennessee football: KaTron Evans makes it four players let out of their NLIs

Everybody and their brother knows Tennessee will be in for a rough 2021 college season. They have a new head coach and will likely duke it out for fifth place in the SEC East with the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Vanderbilt Commodores. While Heupel had success previously at UCF, he inherits a once-proud college program that is scraping along at rock bottom in the early 2020s.

Evans was not the first player let out of his 2021 NLI at Tennessee and he may not be the last. Heupel and Tennessee will have to take their lumps this year and probably next before hitting 2023 in full stride. Evans will find a new team to play for before the start of fall camp and Tennessee will have to address losing one four-star recruit after another in this total disaster.

Though Evans can find success right away, Tennessee continues to be in horrible shape in 2021.

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