No other team recently has been recruiting
Jonathan Echols harder than Tennessee. There’s a reason the Vols have stayed in frequent contact with him since joining the race for him more than six months ago, and particularly over the past few months.
“They think I’m the best player in the country,” said Echols, a five-star Class of 2024 athlete from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
His increasingly regular communication with Tennessee coach
Josh Heupel’s staff convinced him to make his first trip to Knoxville last weekend, a visit that lasted more than two days and allowed him to participate in the Vols’ final camp of the summer Sunday evening. He’s now just days away from making his college decision.
After wrapping up his weekend visit to Tennessee on Sunday evening, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Echols revealed Monday afternoon in a post on his Twitter account that he’s set to celebrate the Fourth of July by announcing his commitment on Monday. He has yet to name a group of finalists or favorites.
Following his visit with the Vols, he told GoVols247 that Tennessee, Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame and Miami were among the schools he was strongly considering. He made it clear that Tennessee impressed him while he was on campus last weekend.
“I love it, just being able to get up here, meet the coaching staff, (experience) the environment, being able to see downtown, see what all there is to do,” Echols told GoVols247 on Sunday following his visit with the Vols.
“It’s beautiful, just being able to see everything, everything they’ve done to the city.”
Echols said he arrived in Knoxville on Friday afternoon and stayed through Sunday evening, spending plenty of time with Tennessee’s coaches. It turned out to be his final visit before his planned announcement, with a nearly monthlong NCAA dead period for recruiting having started Monday morning.
With the Vols also hosting a large group of official visitors for much of the weekend, Echols said he stayed with tight ends student coach
Alex Fagan and offensive graduate assistant
Jack Taylor for a large portion of the visit. But Vols senior offensive analyst
Max Thurmond and
Alex Golesh, Tennessee’s offensive coordinator and tight ends coach, were among the other coaches who met with him last weekend.
Echols, a former two-way standout at Heard County High School in Franklin, Ga., who moved to powerhouse IMG Academy earlier this year, said the Vols made it clear throughout the visit that he’s important to them. He participated in a portion of Tennessee’s camp Sunday evening, working out at tight end, the position the Vols are recruiting him to play.
“They just want me to be able to come here and be a great tight end,” said Echols, who’s ranked the No. 30 overall prospect in the 2024 class, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.
He said Tennessee’s coaches envision him “just being a matchup nightmare, just being able to block like an O-lineman and being able to run like a receiver.”
“Just being able to do both of those set me apart from other tight ends,” added Echols, who has received offers from more than 30 schools.
Not every school pursuing him wants to use him at the same position.
“I get tight end, defensive end, outside linebacker. That’s about it,” he said. “But I tell most coaches I want to play tight end, so they mostly try to recruit me as a tight end.”
The Vols liked what they saw from Echols during Sunday’s camp. He said Golesh and other members of their staff talked with him about “just being able to work on getting in and out of my breaks, (and) my stance and start, really.”
Echols, who picked up an offer from Tennessee on Dec. 1, said he made the trip to Knoxville last weekend “to just come to Knoxville, be able to see everything.” He added that he simply wanted “to visit as many places as I can, see how everything’s going down.”
Immediately after the visit, he was already planning to return to Tennessee to take another look at the Vols in the coming months.
“I’ll definitely be back soon,” Echols said. “I’m not sure when, but I’ll be back.”
At the time, he said he was hoping to make a relatively early decision, adding that he was “thinking about committing after the season” — perhaps around “the end of this calendar year or next spring.”
“That’s the plan, but you never know,” he added. “It might change.”
And now it has.
You should see me trying to sneak a peek at my phone after preaching about not being on your phone when we’re all together!
