“After I went to Tennessee, I would say Tennessee is up there. But that’s about it, really. Tennessee, Penn State and, like, Michigan State (are standing out).”
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound Gooden is the son of former Major League Baseball star pitcher
Dwight Gooden, the 1985 National League Cy Young Award winner and a three-time World Series champion. The younger Gooden has piled up scholarship offers from 14 schools, including Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Penn State, Maryland and Kentucky, all of which have come since early May.
He said he decided to travel to Knoxville last weekend because he “just liked what I heard” about Tennessee after getting his offer from the Vols on June 28. He said he was impressed by first-year Tennessee coach
Josh Heupel’s staff, and the people throughout the program seemed like a “family — like, really connected.”
“I would say (I liked) the coaches,” Gooden said. “The campus was beautiful and all that stuff. …
“Everything was new to me. I was surprised (the facilities were) that nice, to me, because I never hear anything about Tennessee, really. But now I know.”
Gooden said he spent time during the visit with Tennessee special teams analyst Jacob Bronowski, who informed him of his offer from the Vols in late June, along with defensive coordinator
Tim Banks and
Mike Ekeler, Tennessee’s outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator.
The Vols told Gooden, he said, “how they like hybrid-type players, players that can move and play different positions.” He said they envision him being “an edge guy, outside linebacker.”
