Ramel Keyton still is hearing from at least a few other colleges, one of which recently hosted him for a game, and at least one team is trying to convince him to back out on his commitment to Tennessee. But after being committed to the Vols for almost five months, he now can’t envision himself deciding to play for anyone else.
“I’m not going to flip,” said Keyton, a four-star senior wide receiver from Marietta (Ga.) High School. “I’m in too deep, is how I would say it. I’m too committed. I mean, I knew it wasn’t going to be, like, a perfect record or something because it’s the first year, so I know they’re going to go through some stuff,” Keyton said. “I don’t care about the wins and losses. I’m just going there so we can win more games. “I see they need more playmakers at receiver. I can fit in like that.”
While Keyton said he has “heard a little bit” from the Bulldogs, his contact with them has been “not, like, to get me to flip to them or nothing. I hear the most, probably, from Auburn and then Florida, then Georgia,” he said. Despite Auburn’s continued pursuit of him, he said he will “probably not” take an official visit there. “Coach (Kodi) Burns, he’s trying to get me to flip over there,” Keyton said, referring to the Tigers’ wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator. “But I don’t really like Auburn like that.”
For now, Keyton primarily is focused on getting healthy. He said he suffered “a little fracture” in his ankle last week during Marietta’s 36-14 win over North Paulding High School of Dallas, Ga. He said the injury is “not that bad,” and he has been told he “can be back by November” and he “can still play, probably, the last regular-season game and the playoffs.”
He said he’s also trying to convince at least a couple of his teammates to join him at Tennessee, and he believes there’s “a good chance” the Vols ultimately could land Marietta’s quarterback, four-star Class of 2020 prospect
Harrison Bailey. “Harrison, it’s between us and Michigan,” Keyton said. There’s “a good chance” Keyton will be an early enrollee at Tennessee, he said, if everything goes according to plan. “I’m taking a class to early enroll, so it’s like, if I pass it, then I’m going to early enroll,” Keyton said, adding that he’s hoping to join the Vols in January “just to get in better with the offense and, like, really learn the playbook and stuff.”