Phillips talks interest in Vols, has high praise for new staff's potential

For the second time since Jeremy Pruitt took over as Tennessee’s head coach, Archer (Ga.) defensive back Jalyn Phillips returned to Rocky Top to hang out with the new staff.

The 3-star Peach State prospect is a top target for the Vols in the 2019 cycle, and Phillips told VolQuest that Tennessee is among the schools currently standing out to him.

“Tennessee is up there,” Phillips said Saturday following the Junior Day on campus. “Tennessee, Oklahoma and Alabama are recruiting me (the hardest) right now.”

Phillips made the trip with several of his Archer High teammates, including 4-star corner Andrew Booth. Together, they spent a lot of time with Pruitt and secondary coaches Terry Fair and Charles Kelly.

“It was all good meeting with coach Pruitt and the whole coaching staff. They’re changing things around here,” said Phillips, who holds more than 40 scholarship offers. “Those guys are really successful at what they’re doing, developing players.”

Despite playing most safety in high school, Tennessee is recruiting Phillips as a versatile defensive back. The Vols envision lining him up all over the secondary, with Fair serving as his main recruiter right now.

“He hits me almost every day. He’s a cool guy,” Phillips said. “He’s going to keep it real with me all the time. Just him being honest with me is big. He played here and in the league, so he’s telling me things as a coach and as a player.”

Phillips recently dubbed Oklahoma as an early leader in his recruitment, but he said Tennessee is firmly in the mix now and he also plans on visiting Florida State, Georgia and Clemson this spring.

He’ll be back in Tennessee later this spring for a practice and has penciled in a trip for the Orange & White Game on April 21, too. After each visit, including Saturday, Phillips takes some notes, chats with his coaches and parents and then outlines a list of “pros and cons with the university, the whole coaching staff and the players.”

So how does he plan to approach the process moving forward?

“I’m just going to take my visits and focus on my books. I’m going to take all my official visits and then narrow things down later this season,” he said.

Despite visiting Tennessee a couple of times during Butch Jones’ tenure, Phillips’ interest in the Vols has grown considerably with coaching change. He believes UT’s new staff is capable of reclaiming the glory of the 1990s.

“I feel like Pruitt is going to make it a winning program again,” Phillip said.

“This coaching staff, they have many experiences winning championships. I just think they’re going to turn the whole thing around here at Tennessee.”