'16 GA RB Arkeem Byrd

#29
#29
"Tennessee surprised me at first. They talked to my coach last week and reached out to me and wanted to see me in person," Byrd explained. "Coach Martinez came to my house Monday and surprised when he offered me."

"He did a breakdown of why they offered me at safety," Byrd explained. "Breakdown on my game and really did his homework and detailed why he wanted to recruit me. He gave me his background and I really liked coach Martinez. I could tell he's real and I like that."

"It's big. Not that it's just Tennessee, but because of coach Martinez and what he sees in me. It feels good to know that somebody sees your talent," Byrd said.

With two visits under his belt and more expected in January, Byrd said he has a pretty good grasp for what he's looking for. "I want a good education. A place socially that I feel like I can fit it," Byrd said. "When football season is over I want to feel like I can go there. Just the overall best fit."
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-VQ
 
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#31
#31
AboveAllNations said:
Are late scholarship offers like this unusual? Some prospects are still going through growth spurts so I imagine some of this is unavoidable, but late offers certainly complicate things the closer it gets to NSD.
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Over the past several years, it seems as if recruits have been committing much earlier in the cycle than before. 10 years ago, I can't think of any teams that had 15 - 20 recruits locked up before the season began. Now, it seems increasingly common. Check out our 2004 class for an example:

Tennessee Vols - 2004 Recruiting Class

Notice we only had 4 recruits by December 2003. This year, we had maybe 17 or 18 before December. I'm betting this trend towards earlier commitments explains a lot of "re-evaluation" that seems to be going on now. So I guess in a round-about way, the answer is that these sort of "late offers" used to be the norm. They only seem odd now because everything has been pushed up in the past few years.
 
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#32
#32
Perhaps the pressure turns up even more on this kid in light of the recent departures.
 
#35
#35
"I was fired up," Byrd told InsideTennessee of his visit from Martinez. "When they first told me I was getting a full scholarship at Tennessee, the type of person I have the opportunity to play for in coach Martinez and all them — I don't know them that well just yet — but it was great."
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"He just talked about how he has an eye for recruiting," Byrd said. "He could just see by the way I run the ball that I could be a good defensive back, just by my change of direction ... like, the explosion. You've got to be an explosive player on defense. The instincts — I can make a move real quick, find the corner. You have to have instinc to play defense, so basically, everything he sees in me in my highlight tape, the small little details, he liked about it."
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Scout
 
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#37
#37
Well he's good with the ball in his hands too. Maybe a future return man as well
 
#38
#38
"Most of the schools are making a pretty good move," he said. "Tennessee is making a pretty good move. I love [defensive backs] Coach [Willie] Martinez. "Tennessee is an up-and-coming program in the SEC. If you're not with them, you're going to watch them win. They're a winning program, they showed that last year, and they're going to win next year and the year after that."
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Still plans to visit Jan 15th
 
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#41
#41
Volunteer_Kirby said:
Think this guy is going to look more and more realistic as we inch closer to signing day. Warrior may not be as much of a lock as we'd like to think. P. Fort even said he does not think we lead for him.
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A lot of time left. But we absolutely hold a spot for Warrior.

I like this Byrd kid too. I would be happy with either.
 
#43
#43
Volunteer_Kirby said:
Think this guy is going to look more and more realistic as we inch closer to signing day. Warrior may not be as much of a lock as we'd like to think. P. Fort even said he does not think we lead for him.
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Perhaps we do not lead for Warrior right now. But, the fact that we are going to have the last visit with him before signing day is golden. The same could be true for Derek Brown.
 
#45
#45
Tennessee Golfer said:
Blue shirt.
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Doubt it very seriously. Based on his quotes, seems like the staff likes him. Who knows... He may want to play RB. I think a blueshirt scenerio would play out more like the Nate Johnson recruitment. Also, Byrd seems to have some decent options. Hard to believe he would select a blueshirt from Tenn if his other college offers are legit. We shall see.
 
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