What Caleb Herring Committing To Vols Means For Tennessee

The Tennessee Volunteers were able to keep Caleb Herring home. What does it say about where the Vols are now?

Welcome to the “Tennessee Thomas” newsletter written by “The Sports Renaissance Man” Chase Thomas. This is a section of the newsletter where I write about the Tennessee Volunteers. Who would have guessed? I do hope that you enjoy it and add your email below so you never miss an issue. This newsletter is delivered to your inbox, not your doorstep, daily. Happy reading.

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This week, Caleb Herring became the latest in-state kid to commit to the Tennessee Volunteers in the class of 2023. Herring, along with Trevor Duncan, Nathan Robinson, Ayden Bussell, Nate Spillman all elected to stay home for their collegiate careers and place their trust in head coach Josh Heupel. Of those names, Herring is the biggest in-state name to commit to the Vols in the 2023 class. Per 247Sports, Herring is the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2023 recruiting cycles out of the state of Tennessee. With a 94 overall score on the recruiting website, the Vols keeping Herring home is a big deal.

When it came across my Twitter feed that Herring committed to the Vols, my mind went back to 2021 and Walter Nolan. As you may recall, Nolan was the No. 1 player in the state as another defensive lineman. I had the opportunity to watch him wreak havoc up close and in person last fall in the Powell vs. Oak Ridge match-up at the historic Blankenship Field. He was so much bigger than everybody else on that football field. If memory serves, Powell lined up Nolan in goal-line situations as a lead blocker. In a lot of ways, he reminded me of Grayson High’s Robert Nkemdiche who would later become a first-round pick for the Arizona Cardinals in 2016. You just don’t see many guys like Walter Nolan and Robert Nkemdiche. You just don’t.

I thought about Nolan when it came to Herring for a couple of reasons. For one, Nolan selecting the Vols never felt like a real possibility with all of the uncertainty on Rocky Top going into the 2021 college football season. However, there was always this glimmer of hope. That maybe Nolan would spur the Texas A&M Aggies and remain close to home and play for the Vols. Nolan was a five-star generational talent in the state of Tennessee, and with defensive line coach Rodney Gardner in the fold, it just felt like you could never say never with Nolan. Compound that with the electric season where Heupel turned heads all across the country, and you thought on Early Signing Day that Nolan saw enough in Year 1 of the Heupel Era that Tennessee might be the right spot for him. Obviously, that did not happen and we wish Nolan well in College Station. But, man, it was exciting to read those reports or hear those whispers that the Vols may be able to get back into the fold for the best player in the state.