In the last few weeks, Joseph Anderson has picked up offers from Big Ten blue-bloods Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. Tennessee and Notre Dame are also hot for the 2019 Siegel defensive end. Anderson, soft-spoken and humble, grins when asked about all the recent attention, saying, “I’m just blessed getting those looks this early at my age. I just keep working like I don’t even have offers. But it’s big. I have big interest in those schools.” “I’m just taking my time,” he said. “I’m just cruising right now. I’m waiting until my senior year to make a decision. I’m going to let things play out right now.”
Anderson has visited Tennessee multiple times in the last year, including a recent trip for the spring game. He got a chance to meet new defensive line coach Brady Hoke and build on his relationship with area recruiter Walt Wells. “I like UT. I like the coaching staff,” he said. “I like the facilities and the atmosphere every time I go down there. I feel like I’m home. It’s a place where I could see myself playing at in the future.”
At Siegel, Anderson hopes to be a centerpiece of the Stars’ rebuild under new coach Michael Copley. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound pass rusher is cross-training at defensive end and outside linebacker, and he'll play a little tight end on offense, too. “I’m athletic. I can move well,” Anderson explained. “It may translate to college, so I think it’s preparing me for that.”
He’s good friends with fellow 2019 prospects Adonis Otey, a recent Vols commit, and Tennessee legacy Jackson Lampley, a 4-star offensive lineman at Montgomery Bell Academy. “It’s great because they’re getting the same attention that I am, so I ask them questions and stuff. ‘How recruiting is going?” Anderson said about leaning on friends like Otey and Jackson. “It helps me out too as well because those guys are getting a lot of attention as well."
For now, Anderson is simply weighing his options. He doesn’t have any “top schools,” but admits the Vols are certainly high on his list. Rarely a day goes by when he doesn’t get the same message from a member of UT’s staff. “They want me to play for them because I’m an in-state kid, so I take to most of it and I listen to them,” he said. “We’ll see how things go.”
