One of Tennessee's top targets has made plans for an official visit to Knoxville next month. Five-star Class of 2023 wide receiver
Carnell Tate of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., told 247Sports' Tom Loy on Tuesday that he's scheduled to return to Tennessee the weekend of April 8 for an official visit with the Vols.
Tate, a Chicago-area native, visited Notre Dame on Tuesday and is planning to take a handful of trips in the coming weeks. After his latest visit with the Fighting Irish, he told Loy on Tuesday that he's set to travel to Georgia on March 25 and Ohio State on April 1. He added that he "hopefully" will return to Notre Dame on April 23.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Tate released a list of his top five college choices Tuesday night in a post on his Twitter account that included Tennessee. Notre Dame, Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia joined the Vols in his group of favorites.
Tate already has visited Tennessee twice since late November. He made his first trip to Knoxville the weekend of Nov. 27 to attend the Vols' regular-season finale against Vanderbilt, and he returned the weekend of Jan. 22 for Tennessee's first junior day of the year.
He's a five-star prospect in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, where he's ranked the No. 21 overall prospect and No. 3 wide receiver in the 2023 class and the No. 7 junior from the state of Florida. He's rated a four-star prospect by 247Sports, where he's ranked the No. 14 overall player and No. 2 wide receiver in the 2023 class.
After his latest visit to Tennessee in January, Tate told Loy that the Vols stood "at the top of my list with the other schools," and making his second trip to Knoxville in less than two months "did make them more of a contender." They're still among the front-runners for him despite the recent departure of former Tennessee wide receivers coach
Kodi Burns, who left last month to become the receivers coach for the NFL's New Orleans Saints.
Former offensive analyst
Kelsey Pope was promoted to replace Burns on March 7.
Tate said in January that he was still taking a hard look at Tennessee, at least in part because of the Vols' history of producing NFL receivers.
“The main reason I’m considering Tennessee is because that school has built receivers, honestly,” he said at the time. “They have the most first-round-pick receivers in the league. And then they just need guys like me to get them back up there.”
