2020 in-state athlete visits Vols, picks up offer from Jeremy Pruitt
Tyler Baron has seen Tennessee plenty of times.
The 2020 athlete from Ensworth High (Tenn.) has checked out the facilities, attended several games in Neyland Stadium and had a few sit-downs with the previous staff.
So Saturday’s visit was all about an education in Jeremy Pruitt.
Baron, whose father is Patrick Abernathy (Tennessee’s coordinator of high school relations), returned to Rocky Top to visit specifically with Pruitt, Tracy Rocker and Brian Niedermeyer.
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound rising junior walked away impressed — and with a new offer in hand.
“I’d heard a lot of great things about them but I wanted to see for myself actually what kind of people they are and what they’re trying to build at Tennessee,” Baron told VolQuest.com.
“We really discussed how I could help Tennessee football get back to what it’s supposed to be. They want to keep a lot of the best players in state and bring back the tradition.”
Baron holds early offers from Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina and Oregon. He’s also been contacted by LSU and Virginia Tech, among others. A versatile athlete, Baron is being recruited on both sides of the football — at defensive end, outside linebacker or tight end.
“Coach Pruitt sees my playing tight end or defensive end,” Baron said. Possibly both for the Vols. It was good to hear what he thinks I could do for them and how I could help them.”
From Abernathy to his former Tigers teammate and Tennessee signee Tanner Antonutti and others, Baron had heard plenty of positive endorsements about Pruitt, but meeting him in person was very important to the in-state prospect. Baron had strong relationships with Butch Jones and Bob Stoops and wanted to make similar connections with Pruitt, Rocker and Niedermeyer.
“That’s what today was all about,” he said. “I was pretty comfortable with coach (Butch) Jones and I wanted to see if it felt like the same way. I wanted to see if it was going to really be like family up there. … They were all great guys. It was good.”
By the end of Saturday afternoon, Baron was feeling right at home, and Rocker and Niedermeyer were already joking about who would get to coach him. The in-state sophomore replaced Antonutti, who bumped inside to tackle, at tight end for the Tigers and also played a ton of snaps on defense. With two more years of high school ball, Baron projects as defensive end in Tennessee's new scheme. He said with his quick hands and long arms, pass rushing comes more naturally than playing offense, but “I’m open to playing whatever helps the team.”
“They’re going to have to fight over me a little bit,” he said, laughing.
Baron’s recruitment is in its infancy stages, and he plans to visit several schools this spring — including a return trip to Tennessee. He’s in no rush to make a decision, but the Vols will always be among his top choices.
“I haven’t really narrowed it down to any schools but Tennessee, with my dad and them being 2.5 hours down the road, that’s going to pull on me a lot,” he said.
“Just my ties to Knoxville.”