Naples High’s Byrd flips commitment from Miami to Tennessee

Jones said he woke up Wednesday morning confident the Vols would sign Kongbo “because of the relationships that had been built over a long period of time” with Tennessee’s coaches and players.

Entering National Signing Day, Tennessee’s class of 2016 included one of the nation’s top quarterbacks, one of its speediest running backs and the state’s best linebacker. But the biggest signee of the day was the nation’s number one overall junior college prospect; defensive end Jonathan Kongbo. “Being around the players and being around the coaches, and going out in the (Neyland) stadium and seeing just everything that goes into Tennessee football, just blew me away”, said Byrd. Late Tuesday night, the Vols got some good news from four-star cornerback Tyler Byrd, who announced that he was flipping from Miami to Tennessee.

Byrd had shown no signs of wavering on his longstanding commitment to Miami until the past few weeks, when Tennessee finally chose to make a late push for Byrd after coveting him for months.

Per 247Sports, Kongbo is the No. 1 recruit across the board among all JUCO prospects. They should also be ranked in the pre-season top 15 or maybe even the top ten polls later this year. Rivals ranks Byrd as the 73rd best recruit in the country.

It had become clear for some of those players a while back, so it is not as big of a deal. The increased numbers should help the Vols as they try to replace their leading receiver, Von Pearson, and fix a passing game that often looked disjointed last season.

Warrior, a 6-foot, 186-pound safety out of Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, Ga., will following his father’s footsteps by joining the Volunteers.