|
Tnphil
|
 |
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2022, 12:48:43 EDT » |
|
C&P from tos
After entering the NCAA transfer portal last week, Andre Turrentine didn’t need long to decide on a new home. He quickly realized that he wanted to go home.
The Ohio State redshirt freshman defensive back announced Monday morning that he has committed to Tennessee, giving the Vols a former four-star, in-state prospect to upgrade their secondary. The former standout at Ensworth High School in Nashville, Tenn., said he heard from more than 40 schools almost immediately after he entered the transfer portal, but he didn’t take long to settle on Tennessee.
“I felt Tennessee was just right for me,” Turrentine told GoVols247 before publicly announcing his decision. “It checked all the boxes that I was looking for, and it just felt like home — well, not felt like home. It is home.
“I’ve already been down there multiple times. I’ve been down there (with) the old staff, with the old, old staff, (and) with the old, old, old staff. It’s nothing new for me. But looking at what Tennessee has going now, it looks like there’s finally some stability there and a promising future and productivity going on there.
“They’re getting better every year, and I want to be a part of it. I want to be on board. Of course, it’s too late, and I’m hoping to kick my career off at Tennessee at home. What better place to do it?”
After redshirting last year, the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Turrentine has four remaining seasons of eligibility. He will join former Ensworth teammate Wesley Walker, a Georgia Tech transfer who committed to Tennessee in March, in transferring to Knoxville after the spring semester.
The Vols were one of Turrentine’s top four choices, along with Alabama and LSU, when he committed to Ohio State coming out of high school. He’s now headed back to his home state.
“It feels very, very storybook,” he said. “That’s kind of how you would want your life to be, how you envision things, and it’s played out that way — not always in the way you want it to and when you want it to. But, overall, it has been like that.
“It is crazy to think, almost a year later, getting a call from my former teammate saying that there’s opportunities there, and there are opportunities and a spot where I can not only play with my teammates, and there already is a family halfway built there. It’s just crazy to think how fast it all happened, and also how impactful it already is on my life and my family and myself without even being up there.”
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel’s staff, led by Heupel himself and defensive coordinator Tim Banks, made it clear to Turrentine that he could compete for immediate playing time in the Vols’ secondary, although he didn’t make much of an impact on the field during his lone year at Ohio State.
“Usually, guys kind of say what you want to hear,” Turrentine said. “They want you to come to their school or want you to buy into their program, so they just say whatever they think, whatever they feel that would get you there. But with UT, Coach Heup just kept it real with me. He painted out the vision for me with where he saw that I fit into the school and where he saw that I fit into his program and his defense — and, not only that, his secondary and where I’d fit into the family, as well. And he didn’t even have to tell me that for me to feel that. I felt that before.
“As far as the defense goes, and the secondary and where I fit, I’m looking to come in and compete for a starting job, and me and Wesley are on the same mission. We’re coming both to come in and compete for a starting job, and play alongside each other and become a real problem in the SEC.”
-Callahan
|
