Last Saturday’s Rocky Topalooza was a big hit for everyone involved. Tennessee made some serious headway on several priority targets and the current commits in attendance had the opportunity to catch up, outside of the group text message setting.

Engulfed in several activities consisting of scavenger hunts, a talent show and mini-golf – the premier Memorial Day weekend event focused on a lot more than just the everyday football conversation.

“Today was just a fun day,” tight end commit Ethan Davis told Volquest leaving campus. “There wasn’t a lot of football talk – it was just about having fun.”

The Collins Hill standout was Tennessee’s second pledge of the 2023 cycle, committing to the Volunteers back in December. He’s since been working on building relationships with the guys in the class as more and more jump in the boat.

But last weekend was one of the first times where several committed players were on hand for the same weekend.

“Just being able to be around all of the guys was nice. All of the commits, we haven’t had a whole lot of time together outside of texting and stuff,” Davis said. “So, it was great to see a lot of them. Plus, we had a lot of talent up here. Being able to come up here and recruit to grow the class was good.”

There was plenty of talent on The Hill for the day-long event. Quarterback commit Nico Iamaleava, pass-rusher pledge Caleb Herring and other members of the nine-man committed class decided it was their chance to work some of the prospects who were on campus.

Nico spent time with several of the guys in attendance while Herring focused more on the defensive side. As for Davis, his focus was channeled in on the trenches.

“I was mainly working Francis [Mauigoa] because we really need to build that offensive line,” the tight end said. “It was me and Francis talking a lot today.”

The IMG standout offensive tackle was taking in Rocky Top for the first time last weekend. Tennessee showed well, thanks in parts to Davis’s efforts, as Mauigoa plans on returning for one of his five official visits later this month.

Outside of the offensive tackle, other blue chip prospects such as Chandavian Bradley, Rico Walker, Tomarrion Parker, John Slaughter, Christian Conyer, Keldric Faulk, Will Whitson, Vic Burley, Brycen Sanders, Lucas Simmons and more were present for the event.

The Vols, of course, won’t win them all – but last weekend’s showcase could potentially serve as a stepping stone to a highly-ranked class when it’s all said and done.

“I feel like today will make a huge difference – absolutely,” Davis smiled. “I feel like we are going to get a couple of more commitments after this weekend because it was a great time up here. You’d have to be sad to have a bad day today here at Tennessee.”

Davis plans to continue his training in preparation for his senior season as the summer continues. He’ll return to Knoxville for his official visit on the weekend of June 24-27 and has no plans of visiting anywhere else.