JUSTIN MEREDITH, 6-5, 220 TE ANDERSON, S.C. [T.L. HANNA HS]
Ratings: Rivals 3* No. 13 tight end, Scout 3* No. 17 tight end, ESPN 4* No. 6 tight end, 247 3* No. 57 tight end. Chose UT over North Carolina, Clemson, Auburn, Cincinnati, Duke, Illinois, Mississippi State, NC State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest.
STRENGTHS: First off, Meredith is an early enrollee, which helped Brendan Downs last year for UT. Meredith is likely more ready than Downs coming into school, despite not playing much tight end for his high school last year and focusing mostly on defense which is where they needed him. He has incredible speed [4.58] for his size, and he is also blessed with incredibly soft hands. He appears to run crisp routes on film, and he is a big target for quarterbacks. He was highly coveted for the Vols and appears to possess the potential to come in and help immediately, though he may be able to redshirt.
NEEDS WORK: I can't find much on film that I dislike, though it is a bit troublesome that he'll be rusty at the position after playing mostly defense as a high school senior. He isn't the strongest player, and several services say he needs a lot of work blocking. The Vols desperately need him to improve at blocking before he is sent onto the field.
CREDENTIALS: After a long commitment to North Carolina, he looked around and ultimately chose the Vols after Butch Davis and Everett Withers weren't retained. He was a participant in the Under Armour All-American Game, where he briefly played though he was injured. He also played in the Shrine Bowl. As a junior, he had 24 catches for 600 yards and three touchdowns. He played mostly defensive end for Hanna this past season. He finished with 42 tackles and eight tackles for a loss and made All-District.
OPTIMISTIC CEILING: Tennessee really targeted two tight ends from the outset -- Meredith and Alabama commitment Kurt Frietag. The Vols believe both will be all-conference type talents, and Meredith certainly has the frame to weigh 240-250, which UT wants. He is a terrific target, and once he has a year or two in UT's weight program, he is going to be a great player for the Vols. He has ideal height and hands, and he will be a nice get for UT. The extra time in the weight room prior to his freshman season with help greatly, too.
0 recs | 47 comments
Is there an off topic thread I'm missing?
Anyway, does this Ron Zook thing have legs? If so that’s not too cool imo.
cerebralfish - January 9, 2012
there have been so many conflicting DC rumors that I don't even know what to believe anymore
but if Phil Bennett is turning us down, we’re in trouble. We shouldn’t even need to offer a guy like him
Incipient_Senescence - January 9, 2012
Phil Bennett, Kevin Steele?
Did anyone from UT even watch these guys’ defense in their bowl games. If these are the type of DC’s that are being targeted, then they MUST be shooting for no more than mediocrity. I can’t believe than no one with better credentials is interested in SEC football and UT.
Displaced_Vol_Fan - January 9, 2012 via mobile
either this is all misinformation and we'll be pumped with the actual hire
or this is a sign that people see Tennessee as a sinking ship that nobody wants to board.
I’m afraid of the latter
Incipient_Senescence - January 9, 2012
The longer this goes....
Has to make you think it’s the latter. All the employed DC’s have been done long enough to make a hire; and if Shannon is the target, he was unemployed so it could have been done a long time ago. The only other desirable candidate left still playing has already said no based on an article I read earlier. And to that article, I think Chavis’ comment about “they want you when you’re hot” was a direct stab at fans that were yelling for that staff to be fired for so long.
Displaced_Vol_Fan - January 9, 2012 via mobile
if it's the latter
we need to make a change at the top sooner rather than later. Like, unless we’re in the SECCG this year. Because I don’t know if anything less than that is going to make people believe in Dooley to the degree that they’ll jump onboard and work with him
Incipient_Senescence - January 9, 2012
I hope that's not the case.
I really like Dooley and hoped that he would be successful. But I have to say I am losing faith with each passing day. Hopefully we’re just all being alarmists and he will make a splash hire and we go on to win 9+ games next season.
Displaced_Vol_Fan - January 9, 2012 via mobile
completely agree with this.
TN looks worse and worse with every swing and miss in the coaching searches. It sends out red flags much like when they were forced to settle on dooley. They should just sign a young solid DC and get some stability back. At that point, theyll be able to go for a big name later and have a better shot at landing them. They might get Randy Shannon and then all this will be null but anybody other than Shannon at this point will once again look like UT was forced to settle. thoughts?
cerebralfish - January 9, 2012
I'm pretty much completely off the bandwagon...
but I’m still going to wait and see what happens.
There are plenty of good hires besides Shannon, and I’m not so much worried about being forced to settle so much as Dooley actually choosing a guy like Zook/Steele as a top choice. That would be a terrifying sign of his talent evaluation skills.
I keep hearing that he’s looking at NFL position coaches, which also terrifies me when there are plenty of good college DCs out there.
Caban - January 9, 2012
I think we should just let this play out before hitting the panic button
Plenty of time to do that if necessary after the announcement. Remember there’s been absolutely zero credible info from the parties involved. Everything else is board chatter and ‘info’ from ‘insider connected’ people. I wouldn’t doubt that there’s even been some false flags planted by the AD.
phil g - January 9, 2012
If they dont make a DC announcement today, theyre having trouble
with their search imo. By having trouble, I mean having to shift gears to options b. c. d. etc as option a. declined.
cerebralfish - January 9, 2012
The longer the Shannon thing drags the more it seems like
Shannon turned down 1 million a year to be a DC. That just doesnt look good imo but then again he could still sign on. I agree with you though that there are plenty of talented DC’s out there and as Ive said before I wouldnt have gone after Shannon anyway. The only one I’m not fond of at all is Zook. Zook??? I was shocked his name even came up.
cerebralfish - January 9, 2012
even if he didn't suck...
I wouldn’t want Zook just because of faxgate. The guy literally betrayed the trust of the entire UT administration and his old boss.
Caban - January 9, 2012
I'm not familiar with that. I'll have to look it up unless you can fit it in a comment?
cerebralfish - January 9, 2012
Ron Zook...
had worked on UT’s staff alongside a coach named Jack Sells in the mid 1980s. Well, when UT fired Sells before the 1991 season Ron Zook asked him to get a copy of the UT offensive playbook.
Sells faxes the entire playbook to Zook, media gets wind of it. Zook denies knowing anything of it for quite a while but eventually the evidence became overwhelming when an employee at the Knoxville Kinkos produced the documents faxed by Sells.
Caban - January 9, 2012
Zook being the DC of Florida at the time
Caban - January 9, 2012
Dang it guys!
You’re really scaring me with all of this Zook talk!
Ben Miller - January 9, 2012
In the "where are they now" file...
There is an amusing NSFW thread about Jack’s current job, as an employee recruiter for a company called Stryker.
Also, I wish SBNation links defaulted to open in a new page.
Caban - January 9, 2012
Wow, just wow.
That makes me think the Zook thing has to be unfounded rumors. You cant let that slide. That’s “walk the plank” type stuff.
cerebralfish - January 10, 2012
We're really stocking up on huge TEs.
I like it.
TennesseeTyrants - January 9, 2012
So Meredith is a prime redshirt candidate, then?
Chris Pendley - January 9, 2012
looks like
Incipient_Senescence - January 9, 2012
yay redshirts
Finally getting to the point where we can actually spend a year to grow and develop these prospects.
phil g - January 9, 2012
Now we just need a year...
to grow and develop what’s left of our coaching staff.
PEEK-A-BOO - January 9, 2012
I would hope so.
We have Clear and Downs, and he needs to put on some weight. Perfection situation for a redshirt.
TennesseeTyrants - January 9, 2012
Which means he should see his first action in the Bama game in October.
Too soon?
birdjam - January 9, 2012
Yeah.
South Carolina is when we burn redhisrts.
Chris Pendley - January 9, 2012
Are we talking about the same redshirt?
birdjam - January 9, 2012
6-5, 220?
If he has a legitimate 40 time of 4.56, then put that guy in the slot.
Caban - January 9, 2012
Croom was timed that fast or faster at 227lbs.
Croom really is a freak.
cerebralfish - January 9, 2012
I get on here thinking "wow, lot of interest in Meredith"
I see I was wrong.
Brad Shepard - January 9, 2012
Trying to keep the OT stuff in one place...
But Meredith is definitely intriguing. I am wondering at what point we have enough TEs though.
Caban - January 9, 2012
Welcome to Rocky (Off-)Top(ic) Talk!
David Hooper - January 9, 2012
speaking of which:
IMPROMPTU REMATCH LIVETHREAD GO
Chris Pendley - January 9, 2012
Gotta be honest,
I just don’t have a lot of interest in this one. I might actually be ready for a break from football for a bit.
David Hooper - January 9, 2012
My one thought on Zook:
Nobody, but nobody would be happier to seem him as UT’s DC than Spencer Hall.
David Hooper - January 9, 2012
James Franklin would probably enjoy it...
I feel the need to reiterate, he was DEMOTED from DC at Florida.
It’s actually a HUGE mystery how he ever got a job as a HC, that may have been the worst hire in the SEC in the last several decades given the resources of the program hiring(it’s between him and Mike Shula, but Florida was a much wealthier program at the time of the hire). I’ll give a pass on Dooley just because of the absurd time of year the hire was made.
Caban - January 9, 2012
but he did then get a DC job in the pros
Ron Zook is Kevin Steele+. He’ll recruit like crazy and be pretty questionable as an actual DC. But less questionable than Kevin Steele.
Incipient_Senescence - January 9, 2012
Then he'll get another HC gig and take all of UT's recruiting info with him.
;-)
David Hooper - January 9, 2012
Actually, I'd be happy.
Why? Content!
Chris Pendley - January 9, 2012
LSU receives.
I’ll let you know when I start mustering the desire to care about this game. I just can’t really do it.
Chris Pendley - January 9, 2012
should we go with an actual open thread, or just use this?
Incipient_Senescence - January 9, 2012
I'll go ahead and post one
Joel Hollingsworth - January 9, 2012
cool
Incipient_Senescence - January 9, 2012
Aw. I was gonna let Brad enjoy the 800 posts on his thread.
Chris Pendley - January 9, 2012
LOL
Brad Shepard - January 9, 2012
Ready
Here.
Joel Hollingsworth - January 9, 2012
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