“It was real good. It was real nice,” said Page, who’s rated a five-star prospect in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, where he’s ranked the No. 8 overall player and No. 2 defensive tackle in the 2021 class and the No. 1 rising junior from the state of North Carolina. “The fans — I love the fans. I like their facilities. The inside — oh, my God. It’s crazy. I did hear about (the facilities), but I didn’t know it was going to be like that.”
The 6-foot-4, 345-pound Page said he’s already planning on “going to a game” at Tennessee sometime this season. He said he had “been hearing a lot about” the Vols, and he already has been in contact with second-year coach
Jeremy Pruitt and other members of Tennessee’s staff — led by defensive line coach
Tracy Rocker and tight ends coach
Brian Niedermeyer — since getting his first offer in May 2018 from the Vols.
“They’re really cool,” said Page, who now holds offers from more than 30 schools. “I call them every other week.” Rocker, Niedermeyer and Pruitt were among the coaches who talked with Page during Saturday’s visit. But during a laid-back visit that mostly allowed prospects to spend time in the pool and play games, he said Tennessee’s coaches didn’t exactly focus on football. “That’s why I liked it. They didn’t really talk a lot about it,” Page said. "They were just, ‘Have fun today.’ “They basically just keep telling me to have fun with this. That’s what I like. They were just like, ‘Have fun with this process. Don’t stress it.’”
When the Vols have spoken with Page about the impact he could make on their defensive line, he said, they have “just said I’d be a good fit” for their program. Page, who was accompanied on the visit by his parents and his brother, said he’s interested in Tennessee for a couple of reasons now that he has seen for himself what the Vols have to offer. “I like how they treat me like family,” he said. “I like the environment, too.”
Page said he hasn’t “really visited a lot” of college campuses to this point. North Carolina, Alabama, Clemson, Miami and South Carolina are among the other schools he has seen so far, and he said he’s planning to visit at least a couple of those teams again this season, along with Tennessee. “I’m going to a Clemson game,” he said. “I’m going to a (South Carolina) game. I don’t really know. We’re probably going to a Georgia game, too.”
He said Oregon was his favorite team growing up, and while he “can’t get that far away from the family,” he admitted he wants “to go see Oregon on an official” visit sometime next year. Page said he’s likely to attend a school that’s within “around, like, a six-hour radius” of his hometown. For now, he’s in no hurry to decide on a college. He said he plans to announce his choice sometime around his “senior season.”
