Tennessee's 'vision' a sticking point for 2025 ATH Cameron Sparks
It’s never too early to start recruiting. It’s especially never too to start recruiting prospects from the home state.
That’s what Josh Heupel and staff are doing with Baylor School 2025 prospect Cameron Sparks, after initially offering the athlete back on June 6. It was his first Division I offer.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound athlete has a bright future. As a freshman this past fall, Sparks played on the defensive side of the football at safety. Moving forward, he could be used as a weapon at wide receiver.
Programs like Tennessee see potential for the next level on both sides of the football.
“I talked to coach [Kodi] Burns and coach [Alex] Golesh a lot today, and coach Martinez as usual,” the prospect said following Saturday’s Junior Day. “I think they will wait it out and see what I want to do. I like playing receiver more, but I will do whatever to help the team.”
With the expectation of Sparks growing and maturing over the next couple of seasons, Tennessee is keeping an open mind. But you can’t deny the raw athletic ability that earned Sparks playing time as a freshman in one of the state’s toughest clasifications.
“They like that I can play different positions all over the field, despite being so young,” the recruit added. “I’ve clocked in at a 4.6 [seconds] in the 40 and they like that. Pretty much, it’s just being so young and doing the things that I do.”
The Chattanooga native boasts four offers already - all coming from the Power 5 landscape in Tennessee, Arkansas, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Several other schools have already shown interest as well and the list will undoubtedly grow over the next few years.
But with Sparks hailing from the Volunteer State, Tennessee has been on the radar for a while as Saturday marked his third time on campus.
“I like the coaches. Every time I come here, it’s like seeing an old friend,” the athlete said. “It’s always fun coming back to Tennessee. I visit other schools, but Tennessee always stands out.”
As for what separates Tennessee from the others?
“The vision really stood out to me. They are always looking to get better and are not settling on anything – even after the good season that they had,” Sparks explained. “I didn’t really know the statistics were where they were. Like being in the top-10 in scoring, I didn’t really know that before today.”
The Baylor standout plans to be back in the coming months to take in a spring practice and has hopes to visit Virginia Tech for a Junior Day in the near future.
But as far as Tennessee’s Junior Day is concerned, it was both entertaining and educational for the rising sophomore.
“It was good. I’ve never really thought about everything that goes into an athlete’s body – as far as nutrition - at the collegiate level,” Sparks said. “That’s probably my favorite part of the day. But going onto the field and seeing all the renovations they are going to do, like the player’s lounge, that should be cool to see in the future.”
Over the course of the next few months, the athlete will focus on his flexibility in training sessions. Sparks wants to be as equipped as possible to play at a high level on both sides of the football.
For now, he’ll continue averaging eight points and ‘a lot of boards’ while his high school basketball season progresses.
