Owen Pappoe, one of the nations top prospects in the 2019 class, already has been to Tennessee a number of times and repeatedly has referred to the Vols as one of the teams hes strongly considering. He might be visiting them again soon.
The four-star sophomore linebacker from Grayson High School in Loganville, Ga., told 247Sports Kipp Adams on VSportos SEC Recruiting Buzz podcast that hes trying to get down to Tennessee on Friday, and hes still holds the Vols and coach Butch Jones staff in high regard.
They just know how to recruit, man, said Pappoe, whos ranked by 247Sports as the nations No. 2 overall prospect and No. 1 outside linebacker in the 2019 class. Ive got a good relationship with almost every coach on their staff. Im actually trying to get down there Friday night and spent the night and watch them practice on Saturday. I just love it up there at Tennessee.
I think Butch has something planned, Pappoe said. Theres been a lot of hype around their name. People expected them to win the (SEC) East last year. They came up short, and I think thats just building the fire in that program. I know theyre hungry to win championships, so I think theyre going to do something big this season, so were just going to see.
With many of the nations top programs pursuing Pappoe, he said a good bit of the coaches recruiting him have impressed him, including Tennessee linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen.
There's a good bit Coach (Tosh) Lupoi from Alabama, Coach T-Will (Travis Williams) from Auburn, Thigpen from Tennessee, Coach (Kevin) Sherrer and Coach (Glenn) Schumann from Georgia, and Coach (Bill) Miller from Florida State, just to name a few.
Those three schools right there Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, he said. Theyve been recruiting me the hardest and Clemson.