Tennessee Vols: The reason UT commit Harrison Bailey fell in recruiting rankings
Four-star quarterback Harrison Bailey is one of Tennessee Vols' top 2020 commits. But he's not rated as high as he once was by the recruiting services. Bailey was previously rated as the nation's No. 161 player in 247Sports' rankings. In their updated rankings, however, Bailey is rated as the No. 210 player in the nation. […]
Four-star quarterback Harrison Bailey is one of Tennessee Vols' top 2020 commits.
But he's not rated as high as he once was by the recruiting services.
Bailey was previously rated as the nation's No. 161 player in 247Sports' rankings. In their updated rankings, however, Bailey is rated as the No. 210 player in the nation.
So why the drop?
Well, according to Barton Simmons, the director of scouting for 247Sports, Bailey was dropped because of mobility concerns.
Simmons, appearing on the 247Sports Recruiting Podcast, said "Our hangup is mobility. And I’m not even talking about testing results, 40 times. It’s more about, can you make plays outside the structure of the offense?"
Bailey is still rated as the No. 5 pro-style quarterback in the nation. But it's clear that 247Sports doesn't believe he can make plays outside of the pocket when the original play breaks down.
For what it's worth, 247Sports still believes Bailey is a future NFL player. Simmons said that 247Sports is projecting everyone ranked in the their top 247 to play in the NFL. Bailey falls in that range.
At the end of the day, Bailey's drop in the rankings isn't important at all. Recruiting services do a good job of ranking and evaluating players, but it's impossible to be 100 percent accurate. College coaching staffs miss on players all the time. It would be unreasonable to expect recruiting services to always get it right. Their reputation is at stake, so they do the best they can with the information they have.
Bailey is still a highly rated player. And how the services rate him will have absolutely no effect on what kind of career he'll have at Tennessee. Vol fans should be extremely excited to see Bailey wearing orange in the not-so-distant future.
Featured image via 247Sports
