2/17/2022 football Edit

4-star OT Miles McVay growing comfortable with Tennessee

Ben McKee • VolReport

Staff Writer

East St. Louis offensive tackle Miles McVay has heard plenty about Tennessee.

McVay has been in frequent communication with the Vols as his recruitment has picked up, but he’s also heard plenty about them from his former teammate JaVontez Spraggins, who was Tennessee’s starting right guard in 2021.

Being able to see Tennessee in person for the first time in January, however, helped the Vols slide up McVay’s list.

“It was cool,” McVay told Volquest. “They showed me some stuff on the phone, but it looked way better in person. Coach (Glenn) Elarbee and I had time to talk and he broke down some of my film and discussed some of the things we do at my school and what they do. He told me he likes what I do and also showed me some things I do wrong that he would like to see get better. It was a great learning experience and I had fun.”

Tennessee offensive line coach Glenn Elarbee and McVay really hit it off during the visit. McVay, who is considered the No. 51 overall player in the country by Rivals, thoroughly enjoyed Elarbee going over his film with him.

At 6-foot-7, 336-pounds, McVay is ranked as the No. 5 offensive tackle and the best player in the state of Illinois.

“I never want to hear that I’m perfect or whatever,” McVay explained. “I don’t like to hear that because I know the things I can get better at. If I want people to tell me how good I am, I’ll go to the crib and have my Momma praise me.

“It felt good for Coach Elarbee to tell me what I did good and what I need to work on. Stuff that fits the scheme they run at Tennessee. That no huddle offense is something we run at my high school but a little slower. That fast-paced offense is something I gel with really well. It also makes it easier for us because it makes the defense tired and we can get some pancake blocks. It felt good talking to Coach Elarbee because I got to see how he coaches and critiques us. It’ll be tougher in practice and in a game, but you get a feel for things.”

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McVay has a list that he runs through while on visits. Visiting the Vols not only allowed him to sit down with Elarbee, but it also allowed him to run through his list and see if Knoxville could be a place he would be comfortable.

“Since it was a junior day, they might be a little nicer than they typically are, but I wanted to see stuff like that and if they keep it real,” McVay said. “When Coach Elarbee was breaking down my film and talking about what I do in high school, that was something that I really liked because at East Side, they show all my skillsets in the offense. We broke down all of that and that’s something I look for.

“Do I feel comfortable there? That was one thing I looked for and was feeling it, especially when I was hanging out with (Spraggins) outside of football. I did enjoy myself.”

McVay does indeed feel comfortable at Tennessee following his visit.

“I felt comfortable with the coaches,” McVay said. “They were real honest with me. We talked about the gameplan, stuff like that. They were just opening up with me. It’s easier in person to feel someone out that it is on the phone, so to see them in person was good. It’s definitely a place I can see myself at.”

McVay isn’t close to committing, but he is in what he calls phase four of his five-step process, which is taking visits and narrowing things down. Ideally, he would like to commit before the playoffs begin in the fall.

Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, USC and Michigan State are schools currently standing out to the tackle.

In the meantime, McVay’s trip to Knoxville helped out the Vols. He’s hoping to be back as soon as he can.

“I would definitely say they slid up, but I also haven’t taken all of my visits, so if I had to rank it, they’d be top two or three,” McVay said. “But I’ve also only really visited Michigan State, Mizzou and Illinois.”

“I plan on making it back down. That would be good, but it’s hard because we play our games on Saturdays. So I have to get all my business done in the spring and summer. And that will probably be the goal, to take all of my visits in the spring.”