Tennessee Vols: Julian Nixon's comments from last fall should be reassuring
The Tennessee Vols might be the only program in the country that's seen a surge in recruiting during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown. Tennessee has landed three top recruits this week. Five-star defensive end Dylan Brooks committed on Sunday, four-star defensive back Kamar Wilcoxson on Monday and four-star wide receiver Julian Nixon on Tuesday. Of course, […]
The Tennessee Vols might be the only program in the country that's seen a surge in recruiting during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.
Tennessee has landed three top recruits this week. Five-star defensive end Dylan Brooks committed on Sunday, four-star defensive back Kamar Wilcoxson on Monday and four-star wide receiver Julian Nixon on Tuesday.
Of course, landing a commitment is just half the battle for a program. Keeping those players in the commit column until they put pen to paper on signing day is what really counts.
Jeremy Pruitt and his staff will have to continue to work hard to recruit the three players that committed this week (along with the rest of their committed players). Other programs won't stop recruiting players just because they're committed to Tennessee.
While that can be a sobering thought for fans (the early signing period is still over seven months away), there were some comments made by Nixon last fall that should reassure fans.
Nixon discussed his recruitment with Rivals in November. At the time, Nixon didn't even list Tennessee among this top schools (in February, Nixon said his top three was Auburn, Georgia and Ohio State).
The Georgia native made it clear that he hoped to commit before his senior season. But he wasn't going to commit just for the sake of committing. Nixon said he would only commit when he was certain, saying "I will commit when the time is right. When I feel no other school can take that feeling away from me, then that is when I will commit."
Nixon added "I do not want to be one that commits, then changes my mind. I want to be completely done when I commit, so I will make the decision when I feel that strong."
I think it's fairly obvious that Nixon didn't make this decision lightly. It certainly seems like Nixon felt something different at Tennessee….something he didn't feel at other programs.
Nixon told Rivals this week that UT had a "home feeling" and that he felt comfortable there.
Auburn, Georgia and others aren't going to stop in their pursuit of Nixon. But it sounds like they're going to have a tough time convincing the standout wide receiver to abjure his commitment to Tennessee in favor of another program.
Featured image via Rivals
