“I text (Sherrer) almost every day. He checks up on me and everything,” said Groce, who’s ranked by 247Sports as the No. 612 overall prospect and No. 20 inside linebacker in the 2020 class. “He just told me he wanted me to get back up there. I’m going to just go up there and visit and go to camp.”
Alabama, Auburn and Oklahoma are among the other schools Groce currently is planning to visit. He said he expects to visit Auburn on June 1 and Alabama on June 21, and he’s “going to try to go to camps” at most of the top schools he’s considering, including Alabama. He also plans to travel to Oklahoma sometime next month, and he said his first official visit “will probably be to Auburn.”
“I’m just trying to go somewhere where I feel at home, where I can play,” he said. "Tennessee is one of those places. It’s always been like that.” Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt’s staff is one of the main reasons he’s strongly considering Tennessee. “I’ve always liked the coaching staff and everything — mainly their defensive schemes,” Groce said. “I liked all the facilities and the atmosphere when I went and checked it out, when I went about 10th-grade year, actually, and camped. “I just like the feel of Tennessee and everything.”
Sherrer has made it clear to Groce that the Vols are interested in him, too, although Groce admitted he’s hoping to shed some of the weight he has added in recent months. He was timed at 5.05 seconds in the 40-yard dash during Sunday’s The Opening Regional. He said he previously ran a 4.7-second 40 when he weighed closer to 210 pounds, and that’s why he’s now “trying to get back to 225.”
“He’s told me to just keep doing me,” Groce said of Sherrer. “He likes how I’ve been playing. He’s been keeping up with me. He said the weight, he just wants me to get down to where I used to be, just start working out and put on more muscle more so than fat — just try to keep my speed and everything.”
Groce said “mainly” Alabama, Auburn and Oklahoma are the teams recruiting him hardest at this point. In March, he announced a top 10 of Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Tennessee, UAB, Georgia Tech, Florida Atlantic and Liberty. But he said Oklahoma is among the other teams that now are in the running for him. He said he hopes to decide on a college sometime during his senior season. “I’m planning on graduating in December,” Groce said, “so I’m trying to get (my official visits) all done during the season.”
