2018 Recruiting Thread

The momentum for Jackson, Tennessee defensive end Greg Emerson seems to reside squarely with Tennessee. Emerson is close with a large group of Vols commits and that bond expanded yesterday with his time in Knoxville for 'Orange Carpet Day.' A visit that seems to be only topped by his future trips to Rocky Top.

"Honestly I think it gets better every time," Emerson said. "They always bust out something new in your face. This is my first time coming up for 'Orange Carpet Day' and I got to see a lot of different recruits and meet up with a lot of the commits. Today was amazing. It was a good 'Orange Carpet Day.'"

"It actually does (make it easier)," Emerson said. "They don't try to pressure you into being a commitment. They just how you how good the state is itself, the city and they always chill. They don't bring up, 'Greg you need to commit.' and they just tell you how it is."

The Tennessee staff made Litaker, Emerson and Lawless a priority a long time ago, but back in February as the finishing touches on the 2017 class pieced together, they began their pitch of the "Big 3" to each kid. With two of the three already committed, Emerson admits that it will be hard to not fulfill that trifecta. "It would be tough," Emerson said. "Real tough. We just chill. We are Tennessee boys so we stick together."

Alabama, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon and Clemson join the Vols in Emerson's Top 6 that he released last month. Just two months ago, he was topping the scales at 295 pounds. A desire to play defensive end instead of defensive tackle pushed the talented defender to drop weight. He currently weighs 257 pounds and is feeling lean and ready to be mean inside the white lines.

"Body wide and all around, I feel way better," Emerson said. "When I was at 295, I had bad shin-splints and I couldn't run as fast. My 40 time dropped to a 4.6. I've dropped two tenths in my 40 time. My whole being stationary to being mobile explosiveness has all transitioned with that weight loss."

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“My mom came with me this time, and it was a really good visit. I liked it a lot up here today. It was totally different than any of my other visits,” Carvin said of his two-day trip. “Just the chance to hang out with so many players is what made it different. I talked to a lot of commits, Cade Mays and Ollie Lane, I spent a lot of time with them and talked a lot with Adrian Martinez. There all real cool people.”

Carvin has been hearing the coaching staff’s best sales pitch for months. This weekend, he got it from many of his peers who are already on the Vols’ commit list. He noted that he felt the pull in a real way, but held off on making any decision. “It crossed my mind, but I’m going to keep holding out for a little while,” Carvin said when asked if he thought of committing today. “I’m getting close though. I’ll probably have a decision in early July." “They were working on me hard today. It stands out how many of the commits are in-state guys. They were pushing hard today. They were almost successful,” he said with a laugh. “I’m still trying to keep an open mind though.”

Carvin had no doubts about how much Tennessee wants him in the fold even before this weekend’s trip. He’s been a focal point for offensive line coach Walt Wells since Wells moved into that role this winter. “My relationship with coach Wells here is real strong. I have a good relationship with him and coach Jones both. That’s important to me,” Carvin said.

“Everybody is surprised by Memphis but Memphis is in there. Mississippi State and Ole Miss are in there. Also Michigan, I’d like to get up to Michigan this summer,” Carvin said when asked other than Tennessee and Alabama —the presumed frontrunners— he was looking at the hardest. “I don’t have a favorite right now, I’m looking at everybody evenly. I’ll drop it down to about three or five schools soon and I’ll pick from there.”

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