‘23 NC WR Nathan Leacock (Tennessee)

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#637
Tennessee landed another offensive weapon Friday afternoon with the commitment of wide receiver Nathan Leacock. The rising senior at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, N.C., chose the Vols over N.C. State, North Carolina and Michigan after emerging as one of Tennessee’s top receiver targets over the past few months.

Andrew Ivins, a Southeast recruiting analyst for 247Sports, said the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Leacock gives the Vols another “big target” to go along with four-star tight end commitment Ethan Davis of Suwanee, Ga. Tennessee’s 2023 class also includes four-star athlete Cameron Seldon of Heathsville, Va., a top-50 prospect nationally in 247Sports’ rankings who’s being recruited by the Vols as a possible wide receiver.

Leacock has received offers from more than 20 schools, including all four of his finalists, along with Florida, Miami, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. He took official visits to Michigan, North Carolina and Tennessee last month, while nearby N.C. State was believed to be among the Vols’ main competition for him in recent months.

“He’s a big target — a legit 6-foot-3, pushing 200 pounds,” Ivins said of Leacock, who’s ranked the No. 591 overall prospect and No. 77 wide receiver in the 2023 class and the No. 19 rising senior from the state of North Carolina, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.

“I got a chance to see him at the Under Armour All-America Camp Series stop in Atlanta back in (February). It was raining and windy, so hard to tell who all was who. But just reviewing the tape from that day, he’s someone that can create separation and go up and win in the air.”

As a junior, Leacock caught 37 passes for 734 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 19.8 yards per catch. Tennessee extended an offer to him in November, giving him his fourth offer overall and his first from an SEC school at the time.

He was timed at 10.98 seconds in the 100 meters earlier this year, according to MileSplit.com.

“What I like about his game is how he releases at the line of scrimmage and then how he attacks the ball at the catch point,” Ivins said of Leacock. “Sure, he might not be a world-class burner — I do love that 10.98 he’s got — but sometimes we tend to overlook catch radius and the ability for one to put his body in position to make a play down the field.”

The Vols made Leacock a priority over the past few months. He visited them for the first time in mid-April to attend their final spring scrimmage, and they hosted him on his most recent official visit the weekend of June 24.

Millbrook coach Chris Bunting said Leacock weighed roughly 175 pounds at the end of his junior season and has added approximately 25 pounds since then while continuing to improve his speed.

“I like the take for Tennessee, especially with Ethan Davis already committed,” Ivins said of Leacock. “Those two have the potential to be go-to targets for Nico Iamaleava.”
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Since the end of his breakout junior season, Nathan Leacock has continued to grow and has added weight and speed that Millbrook High School coach Chris Bunting believes could allow him to play his way into the NFL in the future. And he still has plenty of room for improvement.

Bunting said Leacock, a Class of 2023 wide receiver from Raleigh, N.C., who announced his commitment to Tennessee on Friday afternoon, is “just starting to scratch the surface” of his potential but has “a Sunday body.” Leacock chose the Vols over N.C. State, North Carolina and Michigan during a ceremony Friday afternoon at his school.

Tennessee will need “to help him develop and grow,” Bunting said, “because he is still a very raw talent and has loads of potential.” But Bunting added that Leacock has “all the tools that you want” in a wide receiver.

“And he’s come a long way in a short amount of time,” Bunting added of Leacock, who’s ranked the No. 591 overall prospect and No. 77 wide receiver in the 2023 class and the No. 19 rising senior from the state of North Carolina, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite. “But they’re getting a guy with unbelievable physical skills. His mental approach to the game has greatly grown in the last two years.

“His football IQ has gotten so much better, so we’re just starting to scratch the surface with what he’s capable of doing here at our level. So that means the sky is the limit, obviously, at the next level.”

Leacock was timed at 10.98 seconds in the 100 meters this spring, according to MileSplit.com. But Bunting said Leacock has been timed at 10.68 seconds in the 100, and he said Leacock also has been clocked at 4.42 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

“Nate’s really deceptive because he’s so much bigger and longer than a lot of other guys, so you don’t really see the acceleration burst visually like you see it with other guys. And then, the next thing you know, he’s closed so much ground on you that you have no shot,” Bunting said of Leacock, who has received scholarship offers from more than 20 schools, including all four of his finalists.

“He’s running by people at 10, 20 meters and it doesn’t look like you see the burst. But, man, he can absolutely get out of the gate. And he knows how to get it extended. That’s the track background in him. He knows how to get his legs extended so well, where other guys really struggle to do that. His speed is something to watch.”

Leacock started for the first time as a junior, catching 37 passes for 734 yards and 10 touchdowns while averaging 19.8 yards per catch. He played at the varsity level for the first time as a sophomore in the spring of 2021.

“When he came in as a freshman, we saw the frame right away,” Bunting said. “But he had not packed on a whole lot of muscle. It was a still very track-oriented body. We brought him up (to varsity) as a sophomore, but he didn’t start for us.

“That was in our spring 2021 season shortened, so we were still trying to take our time developing him because he was still so raw. He had very little time on the field up until that point, so we were really deliberate in how we groomed him. We knew we had a more polished guy in (Wake Forest freshman) Wesley Grimes ahead of him, and let Wesley kind of take him under his wing and teach him a lot of stuff. So it wasn’t until this last fall, in the fall of ‘21, that he actually started games.

“I think, as he started to mature and got a little bit taller, people started taking a lot more notice. I will say that, just in this offseason alone, he has gotten to 6-3.5, and he put on almost 25 pounds, because he was a very thin 175. He was a 6-2, 175 kid.

“And then you put on another inch and a half and pack on 25 pounds, and you’re still running 10.68, everybody and their brother’s going to take notice. He looks very impressive.”

If he continues on his current trajectory, Bunting believes Leacock is capable of making it to the NFL, although he’s far from a finished product.

“He’s got a Sunday body. There’s no doubt about that, to me,” Bunting said. “You’re looking at the body and going, ‘There’s a chance for him to play on Sundays.’ It’s some of the fine-tuning on some things. He’s worked really hard at route releases, kind of giving guys multiple looks at how he’s coming in and out of the same route, as well.

“His hands are going to continue to develop. And then the other part of it is having a chance to work with a QB for a little bit and develop some great chemistry. He’s got some really, really good chemistry with our quarterback now. I think the more he works with a quarterback as he’s growing and developing some of those fine motor skills as a receiver, you’re going to see the roof become really, really high on this guy.”
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#639
Great Pickup. He has gained 20 plus pounds this off-season and still maintain his 10.7 100. I have a feeling he will climb the charts just like Webb did after his stellar Senior year. Regardless Big Pickup for Vols. In CHRIST Alone
 
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Fit
Leacock is a vertical threat that has the tools to work all three levels of the field effectively. He makes his living by taking the top off of defenses, but he is big enough that he is a short-to-intermediate weapon when working across the middle of the field because of his ability to utilize his frame and hand strength to hold onto passes through contact. Leacock is a similar prospect to Cedric Tillman in terms of size and play-style, but coming out of the prep ranks, he is likely further along. He has a big catch-radius that allows him to frequently win one-on-one situations, so expect Tennessee to use him similar to how Tillman has been used to this point.

Impact Rating: 8.5 of 10
Getting a receiver that can win one-on-one situations like Leacock can was essential in this class. The Vols swung and missed at a couple of others, and while Leacock is not as polished as they are at this point, his overall ceiling may be higher. Pairing him with Nico Iamaleava should allow the Vols to keep taking vertical shots at defenses for years to come. Again, Leacock is raw in his game, but his untapped potential makes him a key recruiting win for the Vols. As he continues to grow and improve, he will likely hear from other SEC programs, but his commitment to the Vols is firm and this is a key recruiting win for Tennessee.
Impact Report: Vols Land Prized Pass-Catcher in Leacock
 
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