tennessee has always been kind of a little in the lead for a while, as im sure many people could have guessed, said bates, whos ranked the nations no. 113 overall player and no. 7 outside linebacker in the 247composite, which equally weighs prospect rankings and ratings from major recruiting media outlets.
it feels home to me, and im just excited for the next couple of years.
ever since i was little, i always wanted to follow in my dads footsteps, whether that be through high school, through college, through hopefully the nfl, dillon bates said. i know that im on the right track to following in his footsteps, with him leading the way years ago, and im trying to do everything that hes done, and hopefully better, and (go) into the nfl after tennessee.
sitting down with my dad, hes told me that before, with (former tennessee coaches derek) dooley and (lane) kiffin, he was kind of iffy on whether or not he really wanted me to be a part of that staff and be a part of that team with them kind of running things and how they ran things, dillon bates said.
and now, with coach jones, he said thats totally changed, that he feels so comfortable with him and what hes doing. He totally supports everything that hes done.
its just amazing how much progress he has brought to tennessee to kind of bring back the life to the program. Its been awesome.
all the other visits that ive ever been on, they havent really felt like im at home or felt as comfortable as i have been at tennessee, bates said. its that little something, whenever you step out on the game field during games and you kind of get those goosebumps that you feel at tennessee, that i didnt really feel at other places, that made me kind of realize that this was the place for me.
