Tennessee Football: 5-star recruiting target announces when he plans to commit
One of the Tennessee Vols' top 2024 recruiting targets is five-star defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri. Nwaneri, 6-foot-5/250 lbs from Lees Summitt, MO, is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 1 defensive lineman in the nation and the No. 1 player in the state of Missouri. He's also ranked as the No. 3 overall player in […]
One of the Tennessee Vols' top 2024 recruiting targets is five-star defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri.
Nwaneri, 6-foot-5/250 lbs from Lees Summitt, MO, is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 1 defensive lineman in the nation and the No. 1 player in the state of Missouri. He's also ranked as the No. 3 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class.
On3's Chad Simmons suggested last week that Tennessee is the team to beat for Nwaneri, though this recruiting battle is far from over.
The Oklahoma Sooners and the Oregon Ducks are very much in the mix to land the talented five-star recruit.
Some recruiting analysts even think the Sooners are the team to beat for Nwaneri. Rivals' national recruiting director Adam Gorney and OUInsider.com's Parker Thune both think Oklahoma is the favorite for the Missouri native.
"Clear leader might be a little strong but Oklahoma looks to be the favorite right now and it could be tough to overtake the Sooners," wrote Gorney.
Nwaneri's high school coach played at Oklahoma with Vols head coach Josh Heupel, which adds an interesting element to this recruiting battle (it's worth noting that Nwaneri has a former teammate, Cayden Green, that plays for the Sooners).
As for when we'll know the outcome of this recruiting battle?
Well, it's going to be a while. Nwaneri told On3 recently that he doesn't plan to commit until after he takes his official visit to Oregon, which is scheduled for September 23.
Nwaneri has an official visit to Tennessee scheduled for June 16. He also plans to take official visits to Georgia, Oklahoma, and Missouri.
Tennessee is very much a threat to land Nwaneri — and this is definitely a battle the Vols need to win if they're going to play "elite defense" as Heupel referenced recently — but it's going to be tough to land him over Oklahoma (especially since Knoxville is twice as far from Nwaneri's hometown as Norman).
The Vols currently have 11 players committed to their 2024 recruiting class, which is ranked No. 10 in the nation.
