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It’s not often that a high school football player remains committed to three different college coaches at the same university. But that has been the case with tight end Eric MacLain from Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina. MacLain has been a commitment under Phillip Fulmer, Lane Kiffin, and now Derek Dooley.
But on Wednesday, the talented prospect announced that he was de-committing from Tennessee and would consider other options.
VolNation caught up Jack Britt head coach Richard Bailey to find out exactly what transpired in MacLain’s recruitment.
“He was waiting to hear from Tennessee and kept waiting to hear from Tennessee,” Bailey said. “This is a kid that committed to Coach Fulmer. He bleeds Tennessee. When Kiffin got on board, there was a little uneasiness. Then Lane called him and assured him everything was good to go.”
“You’re feeling good and then all of a sudden Coach Kiffin leaves and now you have to go through this again,” Bailey said. “Coach Dooley gets the job and Eric is still one hundred percent Tennessee. He is still being loyal, going to Army All-American camps trying to recruit for Tennessee.”
This time, the phone never rang.
When Bailey initiated a call and finally spoke with the new Tennessee staff, they informed him of their intent to honor MacLain’s scholarship offer, but wanted to evaluate his junior film to determine where he would fit in.
In the meantime, Eric’s father read online that Coach Dooley had contacted other 2011 prospects since he arrived in Knoxville.
“Mr. Maclain read an article somewhere from signing day that Coach Dooley had reached out to two, not comitted kids, but kids the past staff had offered. And called them personally to reassure them that they had still had offers,” Bailey said.
At that point, the MacLain family began to feel that Eric may not be a priority for the current Tennessee staff.
“It just really made Eric feel like maybe they don’t want him,” Bailey said.
“He is a smart smart young man,” Bailey added. “He made a very astute statement to me. He said, coach, I feel like I am recruiting Tennessee and Tennessee is not recruiting me. I am reaching out to them and they are not reaching back.”
Bailey believes that other schools backed off of MacLain since he was committed to Tennessee, but that has changed dramatically since Wednesday.
“When people read on that Clemson site that he de-commited, I bet I had 20 phone calls last night and about 10 of them were scholarship offers.”
Schools showing renewed interest in MacLain according to Bailey include: South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Clemson, North Carolina, North Carolina State, West Virginia, Alabama, Maryland, and Duke.
Even with his de-commitment, Tennessee may not be completely out of the picture.
“I want people to understand, this doesn’t mean he is not going to end up at the University of Tennessee,” Bailey said. “It doesn’t mean that Tennessee is no longer in consideration for him. It means that Tennessee is going to have to go recruit him. And in the meantime, he is going to see what else is out there.”
“If Tennessee decides this is a kid they want, then even Coach Dooley and that staff are going to have to recruit him like everybody else and go win him over.”
MacLain is listed on the ESPNU 150 Watch List.
{ 3 comments }
This is exactly the kind of player the VOLS need to recruit….. HE BLEEDS ORANGE!!!!! I know the new coaching staff has had a tireless past few weeks leading up to signing day; but somebody better shake them and wake them up before this great kids goes elsewhere.
Maybe kids shouldn’t be making commitments prior to their junior years…..if the kid wanted to play at Tennessee, the offer was there. He made the decision to look elsewhere. Hopefully, he can get that “orange” blood transfused out of his veins if he goes elsewhere. Good luck in the future, young man.
Are you serious chuck? The offer was there from another coach. He should have been contacted already several times by the new coach. He would be dumb to go to program who didn’t show interest. He was contacted today by ut, but that should have been done long before.
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