Lifelong Tennessee fan talks offer from Vols after Saturday's visit
Eli Sutton can’t explain why the weather has been so bad in Tennessee for the past month, but the 6-7, 280-pound offensive tackle from Brentwood Acadamy (Tenn.) did offer up an idea as to why it downpoured — from Knoxville to Nashville — once again on Saturday.
“My family is a big UT family,” Sutton told Volquest.
“I’m named after my great-grandfather, who was a season-ticket holder for 55 years. My grandmother told me, the reason why it’s been raining so much in Nashville today is because you’re grandpa is having a party up in heaven because he knows you could be a Tennessee Vol someday.”
Sutton is a potential blue-chip recruit in the 2021 class. He already held more than a dozen offers — Michigan, LSU, Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina, Mississippi State and others — but there’s been “a special one” he’s long waited for.
It came Saturday.
Taking a visit to Tennessee to checkout the second day of spring practice, Sutton drove home in the rain with a scholarship offer from head coach Jeremy Pruitt.
“It happened right at the very end of the visit,” Sutton explained.
“He pulled us into the office and was talking about how we might not be a championship team this year but when you’re a senior and when we really want you, we’re going to be at the top of our game and the top of the SEC. We think you can be a big-time part of that and we really want you here at Tennessee.
“I’ve got a long ways to go before I really reach the top of my potential. I feel like Tennessee could be a possible home for that in the future.”
Sutton grew up a big UT fan, going to games with his grandparents, aunts and uncles. He vividly remembers the win over Kentucky and the ensuing postgame celebration in Derek Dooley’s first season and he was in attendance for the last home game Butch Jones ever coached at Tennessee.
In the time since, Sutton, formally at Ensworth before transferring to BA this year, has emerged as a legit 2021 prospect.
“They really like my length. Coach Pruitt told me straightly that I’m really long and really athletic and that they really like that about me, especially in pass pro, but I have to keep working on my run blocking,” Sutton said.
“That’s the main knock on me right now because I’m so tall, it’s hard for me to get down sometimes to those positions. Once I get stronger, which is a knock on me right now because I’m a little undersized at 280, I feel like I’ll fulfill that role as a dominant run blocker and a guy who is dominant in pass pro.”
Sutton spent Saturday joking with Brian Niedermeyer and talking with OL coach Will Friend. Observing a college practice was “pretty exciting” and “eye-opening,” and the trip also allowed him to reconnect with an old friend.
Sutton is close with former Tennessee offensive lineman Tanner Antonutti, who now serves as a player-coach since taking a medial retirement at the end of last season. The former Ensworth product served as Sutton’s tour guide, taking him to see the facilities and academic center. Sutton was impressed with Antonutti’s transition from player to coach, saying, “I thought it was really cool how Pruitt handled his situation. They care for you as a person. Don’t get me wrong, they’re going to use you to win football games, but being that Tanner ended his career off a freak incident but they still retained his scholarship and he has a role, was really incredible to me.”
Sutton has seen South Carolina and Tennessee so far this spring, and plans to visit Florida and Miami while on spring break. He hopes to checkout some Big Ten and Big 12 schools in the near future, too, but with Saturday’s offer from the Vols, he figures to be a frequent visitor on Rocky Top again.
“I want to come back,” he said. “I’d like to see what a new game day atmosphere is like with coach Pruitt now. Come back to (Neyland) to see a big-time home game.”