Tre'Vonn Rybka hears Tennessee's pitch to put on for his state
It wasn't Dickson County standout Tre'Vonn Rybka's first time at Tennessee, but Friday's visit was more personal.
The visit was to the point and a great chance to see and interact first-hand with the Tennessee staff.
"We basically toured again and hung out with coach (Tracy) Rocker and Coach (Jeremy) Pruitt," Rybka told Volquest.
"It was good to just spend time with them and talk about things. Coach Rock came by my school yesterday, so it was a chance to see him again."
The time with defensive line coach Tracy Rocker is pivotal because the former Outland Trophy winner will be the one in charge of coaching and getting the most out of Rybka.
"We talked about how I could play there and how good I can be at Tennessee," Rybka said. "He likes that I play hard and fast. He's a super caring person. He loves to watch someone play and grow on the field, but loves to watch them grow off the field as well.
"He's definitely like another dad. I have a pretty good relationship with him."
Rybka was joined by one of his teammates, his head coach and an assistant coach from Dickson County. They all sat down and ate lunch with Pruitt which included chicken, burgers and M&M Ice cream sandwiches. The conversation between Rybka and Pruitt was more than solid as the second-year head coach made his case as to why he needs Rybka to stay in state.
"He told me he needs me as an in-state guy," Rybka said. "He doesnt' want to lose me to an out of state team. We talked for a while. He just kept talking about me about coming to Tennessee. That was the biggest topic just trying to get me to commit."
Rybka has only visited Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Memphis. He wants to make it down to LSU soon.
The staff hit on the core group of in-state prospects that they hope to build this 2020 class around. It's players like Cooper Mays, Tyler Baron, Jay Hardy, Keshawn Lawrence, Chris Morris, Omari Thomas and Rybka. In fact, he saw first hand how important he is.
"I saw on coach Rock's office his board and he had me, Big O, and Jay and another dude high on the list," Rybka said. "He said those are the guys that he wants in-state in this class."
Rybka speaks regularly with area recruiter and running backs coach David Johnson, defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley to go along with Rocker and Pruitt.
He plans on visiting next month for camp where he hopes to spend more time with players to get a 'good feel' for how things are as a player at Tennessee.
Rybka will be in Murfreesboro tomorrow to take pare in the OTA event at Oakland. He will also grind at the Opening event in Murfreesboro later this month.
Rvials.com ranks Rybka as a 3-star defensive end in the class of 2020.