Tennessee Vols legacy recruit who just committed to the Clemson Tigers reveals if he’ll visit other programs moving forward
A Tennessee Volunteers legacy recruit committed to the Clemson Tigers on Monday. The Vols are no stranger to losing legacy recruits to Dabo Swinney and the Tigers, though it’s a trend that was appearing to slow in recent years.
The Tennessee Vols lost a legacy recruit to Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers on Monday afternoon.
2027 four-star offensive lineman Carter Jones, 6-foot-5/291 pounds from Poquoson, VA, committed to Clemson over Tennessee, Georgia, and Penn State.
Jones is rated by 247Sports as the No. 16 interior offensive lineman in the nation and the No. 5 player in the state of Virginia.
The newest Clemson commit has a connection to Tennessee via his mom, a UT graduate who was a member of the rowing team.
Jones’ commitment to Clemson comes after it was revealed that Tennessee is altering its roster-building strategy to target players who can help the program quicker, as opposed to developmental players who may take longer to see the field. As VolQuest’s Austin Price put it during a recent appearance on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will, Tennessee’s “had too much money standing on the sidelines the last several years.”
“They’re trying to get to the point where they spend it on players that are going to play and make an instant impact,” said Price. “If you’re going to have a bunch of money tied up, it needs to be tied up in guys who are on the field, and that’s what they’re trying to get to now. Inevitably, you’re going to spend some money on some players that aren’t going to play right away, but they’re trying to eliminate that as best as they can.”
Is Carter Jones still open to checking out other programs after committing to Clemson?
Jones spoke to On3 about his decision after committing to Clemson and he quickly made it clear that his recruitment is shut down moving forward.
“When I commit, I commit, so my recruitment is completely shut down,” said Jones to On3. “I will only be visiting Clemson moving forward.”
You never know what may happen in the future if Jones enters the transfer portal down the road (that’s not expected with Jones, but again, you never know). For now, though, it doesn’t sound like the Virginia native is planning to give any schools a chance to flip him from Clemson.