JUCO LB Chris Weatherd Commits

#52
#52
University of Tennessee - Training Facility - YouTube. Wow. He mentioned the football facilities video. I had never watched it. That is an incredible recruiting tool. (Minus them mentioning Dolittle). I would love to take a tour of that place. We will "rise to the top". And after watching that. The question is not just why wouldn't you want to play for Vols. But why would you want to coach anywhere else?
 
#53
#53
DeusExMachina said:
lyotoslow.gif



BOOM.


(Lyoto Machida/Rashad Evans fight)
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HendoKOsWandy-1.gif
 
#54
#54
Rivals doesn't even have UT listed as a school of interest or that he's committed anywhere. Am I looking at the right guy? Links?
 
#55
#55
Rival now rates our 2014 Class at #1.

Good job Butch. Now hold them till NSD!
 
#56
#56
So this may be a dumb question.... but why can't this guy just transfer and play in 2013 if he's playing JUCO right now?
 
#57
#57
Posted: 12:17 a.m. Saturday, June 1, 2013
Tennessee Recruiting: JUCO Linebacker Chris Weatherd Is Newest Vol
By Brad Shepard

Sports News, Scores and Fan Opinion Powered by 310 Sports Blogs

Several days ago, a virtual unknown player in Southeastern recruiting circles began tweeting about how much he loved and wanted to commit to the Tennessee Volunteers.

On Friday afternoon, Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College outside linebacker Chris Weatherd got the opportunity with an official UT offer, and he committed to Tennessee on the spot. After Vols defensive coordinator John Jancek and linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen evaluated Weatherd in person this past week, they extended the offer and received their 15th overall commitment for the 2014 class in return.

Weatherd's commitment is the second in two days for the nation's No. 1-ranked recruiting class. Four-star defensive end Joe Henderson of Shaker Heights, Ohio, pledged Thursday.

Weatherd is a raw athlete with NFL size and bloodlines. His cousin, former Oklahoma standout and current Denver Broncos defensive end Jeremy Beal, may have played for the Sooners, but Weatherd passed up the same opportunity up to come to the SEC. Oklahoma offered him a scholarship Friday, but he was already set on becoming a Vol and pulled the trigger. Thigpen had been recruiting him a long while, and Jancek had been keeping constant contact with Weatherd as well.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound defensive end/outside linebacker is being recruited by Tennessee to play on the second level of the defense. He claims to run a 4.53 40-yard dash, and if he is that fast, he'll certainly be able to help a unit that will graduate six senior linebackers after this season. UT also is in good shape with high school linebackers Dillon Bates, Kevin Mouhon and KeShun Freeman, among others, but getting a JUCO linebacker who can help right away could pay big dividends. Also, it's not out of the question that A.J. Johnson or, less likely, Curt Maggitt go pro after this season. If that's the case, UT has only 3 or 4 linebackers on its entire roster.

Needless to say, the Vols need a ton of depth at linebacker and need to sign at the very least five 'backers in this class. Given that Jancek runs a lot of 4-2-5 looks, it's not essential that the Vols have 100 linebackers on their roster, but they do need nine or 10 at the very least. That should give you a better idea of how much Tennessee needs Weatherd and how much the Vols need Weatherd to be good.

UT's newest commit held offers from Oklahoma, South Florida, Louisiana Tech, Iowa State, North Texas, Louisiana Monroe and Texas State. While that's far from the greatest offer sheet in the world, the Sooners offer makes you feel a little better about taking him at this stage, and if Jancek and Thigpen both evaluated him and decided to offer, you have to believe Weatherd fits what they want this defense to do.

Weatherd marks the first linebacker commit of this season for the Vols, unless athlete Neiko Creamer winds up playing the position. He is being brought in primarily to rush the passer, but it appears that he has decent coverage skills as well. Bates is arguably the best coverage linebacker coming out of high school in the entire nation, and for a defense sorely lacking on team speed, getting fast linebackers are huge needs in this class. It is also a big deal that Weatherd is on schedule to graduate in December and enroll in time to participate in next year's spring drills, therefore putting him a leg up in the battle to win a starting spot next year.

If there's one attribute Weatherd possesses, it's speed. He is far from polished, but it is obvious coaches liked him enough to take him at this stage. He is a very similar player to former Vols 2013 JUCO commit DeVondre Campbell, who decommitted when Derek Dooley got fired, committed to Texas and wound up signing with the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The JUCO where Weatherd plays has been good to UT in the past, giving the Vols another heat-seeking missile OLB Nevin McKenzie. He fits a major need, and with Tennessee and Oklahoma offers in the past week, it seems the Vols got on him at the right time -- just before he possibly blows up. Welcome to Big Orange Country, Chris!

Tennessee Recruiting: JUCO Linebacker Chris Weatherd Is Newest Vol
 
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#58
#58
chatt-townVOL said:
So this may be a dumb question.... but why can't this guy just transfer and play in 2013 if he's playing JUCO right now?
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Not sure how JUCO rules work, but I'm sure there's some kind of red tape involved. Besides we're good at LB this year. Next year not so much.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#59
#59
armchair said:
Not to be a cynic, but until we see if these guys can play or not, the jury is out. Anybody know anything about this kid?
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You can say that about any recruit that steps on any college campus. There isn't 1 recruit that is a guaranteed star or contributor.
 
#66
#66
MyBloodRunnethOrange said:
Not sure how JUCO rules work, but I'm sure there's some kind of red tape involved. Besides we're good at LB this year. Next year not so much.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
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we are not good at LB this year - was arguably the weakest unit on the team last year

Gooch only did 1 year of juco - i believe its a grades thing, not exactly sure - someone with more juco knowledge could likely provide a better answer - but i thought if they qualified out of high school and went to juco to get better they could jump juco quicker and didnt have to "graduate"

could be wrong on that though
 
#67
#67
BigT_Chief said:
And how many did we have last year at this time? 2-3
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Its not just last year. Historically Tennessee does not recruit this fast. This isn't a Dooley thing or even a Fulmer thing that CBJ is flipping the script on, this is a Tennessee thing that's getting changed.
 
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#71
#71
Number 1 team recruiting ranking should start getting alot more attention of the other 5* and 4* kids that we don't have commited now...I hope.

VFL...GBO!!!
 
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#74
#74
Rock33 said:
Anyone got the numbers on this kid ?
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I used to post the videos and stats when we got a commitment but stopped. Here it is 5 days after your post and all we see is BOOMAGE.

Is there intelligent life on offseason Volnation?

FNO.
 
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