Tennessee Vols could make a huge recruiting splash and steal elite recruit from SEC rival
The Tennessee Vols have mostly put the finishing touches on their 2023 recruiting class (which is ranked No. 10 in the nation), but there's still a small chance they could make a huge splash in the coming weeks. Vols signee Nico Iamaleava, the No. 1 recruit in the nation, has been at the Polynesian Bowl […]
The Tennessee Vols have mostly put the finishing touches on their 2023 recruiting class (which is ranked No. 10 in the nation), but there's still a small chance they could make a huge splash in the coming weeks.
Vols signee Nico Iamaleava, the No. 1 recruit in the nation, has been at the Polynesian Bowl this past week. While there, he's become close with 2023 five-star tight end Duce Robinson.
The feeling is that Robinson, who is uncommitted, will land at either Georgia or USC.
Nico, however, is hoping to change Robinson's mind. Iamaleava told VolQuest's Austin Price after the Polynesian Bowl that he's trying to get Robinson to Knoxville.
The two players already have a nice on-field connection as we saw during the Polynesian Bowl on Friday night.
The interesting thing about Robinson is that he also wants to play baseball. He's hoping to get drafted and play pro baseball while also playing college football (a la Kyler Murray with Oklahoma and the Oakland Athletics).
"Hopefully I can get drafted and then technically play college football still," said Robinson to Rivals.com this week. "It would just be as a walk-on because once you sign a professional contract you can’t go on scholarship…But the goal is to hopefully sign professional and still be able to play college football."
If Robinson doesn't get drafted, the plan would be to play both college baseball and college football.
And I can't imagine a better place for a baseball/football player right now than Tennessee. The Vols finished with the No. 6 football team in the nation and their baseball team is ranked No. 2 in D1Baseball's preseason rankings.
It's a long shot that Tennessee can actually convince Robinson to come to Knoxville this late in the recruiting cycle. But we've seen plenty of recruiting surprises before. And with Nico working as a recruiter and the presence of NIL, I don't think this is something that we can rule out. At least not yet.
Landing Robinson would give the Vols one of the most dynamic players in the 2023 recruiting class. Robinson would be an instant mismatch in the SEC — I can't even imagine the ways that Josh Heupel and Joey Halzle could scheme up plays for the talented athlete.
And the added bonus, of course, would be that landing Robinson would mean that Tennessee kept him away from Georgia.
Featured image via USA TODAY Sports
