College recruiting: Tennessee football recruiting 2022 class grade

Here are the grades for the Tennessee football program’s 2022 recruiting class through Early National Signing Day.

The Tennessee football program is certainly heading in the right direction under head coach Josh Heupel.

Tennessee massively overachieved in Heupel’s first year in Knoxville. Though the gap between the Vols and Georgia remains vast, Tennessee played well enough this season to go bowling. Of course, Tennessee has to prioritize winning in the offseason if it hopes to have enough players to compete with the big Dawgs, as well as the juggernaut Alabama Crimson Tide on fall Saturdays.

Here are the 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2022 cycle and how Tennessee fared this year.

Tennessee football top 2022 recruit: Addison Nichols, IOL, Greater Atlanta Christian School, Norcross, GA (No. 123 nationally, No. 4 position, No. 13 state)

Addison Nichols is a huge get for the Vols in the trenches. Anytime a program can get a four-star out of the talent-rich Metro Atlanta area, you are doing well. Nichols was surely a player Georgia and Alabama would have loved to have had as a part of their recruiting class. Though Tennessee rarely beats its two big rivals, they have landed a starter along the offensive interior in Nichols.

Tennessee football recruiting strengths and weaknesses for 2022

While Tennessee did a good job of landing players at many key positions, the Volunteers made it a point to get more explosive outside the numbers on both sides of the ball. Having better athletes at cornerback and wide receiver may help close the gap on Georgia. Where Tennessee fell short was along the defensive front-seven and at tight end, leaving it to chance to be out-physicalled.

Diamond in the rough for Tennessee football: Cameron Miller, WR, Memphis Academy of Health Sciences, Memphis, TN (No. 421 nationally, No. 63 position, No. 15 state)

Cameron Miller to Tennessee is a big deal for a few reasons. One, for Tennessee to get back to being an elite program, the Vols need to dominate the recruiting trails in Memphis. They cannot let top local products to go Ole Miss, Mississippi State … or Memphis. With Heupel loving to move the sticks aerially, Miller could slot in nicely as a big-time receiver for the Vols in the next year or so.

Where does Tennessee football rank nationally and in the SEC in recruiting?

While Tennessee is in a good spot nationally with the No. 18 overall class, it is only middle of the pack in the SEC at No. 8. Again, it is tough sledding to make headway in the SEC, but Tennessee needs to do a better job of pushing for a top-five class in the conference with greater regularity.

Tennessee football 2022 recruiting grade

Though Tennessee is doing a good job nationally on the recruiting trails, the Volunteers program will be judged on how it performs in conference play. While Tennessee has always been able to recruit decently no matter who the head coach is, we are going to need to see a little more out of them next year to give them better than a good, but not great recruiting grade.

Grade: B

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