On July 10, Butch Jones landed one of the biggest bricks in recent program history.
Five-star defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie, son of former Vol standout Reggie McKenzie, committed to the Vols at Nike’s The Opening, a camp in Beaverton, Oregon held for the nation’s top high school football prospects. McKenzie marks Tennessee’s second five-star recruit for the 2015 class.
The 6-foot-4, 341-pound defensive tackle is rated as the No. 32 overall player by 247Sports, and the best prospect in the country by Scout.com. As a high school junior, McKenzie racked up 74 tackles, 18 tackles for a loss and 12 sacks.
McKenzie possesses elite quickness that belies his size, and has only continued to improve while showing off his skills at The Opening. He won the 2014 Defensive Lineman MVP honors at the camp, and he impressed scouts all week with his strength, quickness and motor.
So what does McKenzie’s commitment mean for the future of Tennessee football?
Let history speak for itself.
From 2007-13, the Vols finished in the bottom half of the SEC in sacks and tackles for a loss in six of those seven seasons. During that time, Tennessee accumulated an overall record of 43-45 and a 20-36 mark in SEC games.
Before that span, Tennessee was known for its powerful defensive line that would wreak havoc in the opponent’s backfield. Defensive linemen like John Henderson and Albert Haynesworth weren’t rarities at UT; they were the norm.
From the mid 1990’s to early 2000’s, opposing quarterbacks feared playing Tennessee because they knew every game would be a battle that would likely end with them on the ground. The defensive line was a large part of the reason the Vols were able to win 10 or more games a season from 1995-2004.
Tennessee’s decline in wins and futility on the defensive front are no coincidence. In order for the Vols to get back to where they once were, they have to start dominating at the point of attack again.
Kahlil McKenzie will go a long way to helping that.
McKenzie is the first five-star defensive tackle to commit to Tennessee since Demonte Bolden in 2004, but Bolden came out of junior college meaning he only had three years to play for Tennessee. McKenzie is a high school player, which means he has four years of playing time. The Vols have failed to land big-time defensive linemen prospects over the last decade, and it has led to a defensive decline that has buried the team in obscurity.
That could soon change. Shortly after making his announcement, McKenzie vowed to recruit fellow defensive linemen to join him at UT. He sent out a Tweet after his decision assuring Vol fans “we will rise to national prominence once again.”
If Butch Jones continues to add massive bricks like McKenzie to his Big Orange Wall, that rise will be quicker than expected.
Nathanael Rutherford is a rising junior in English. He can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter at @Mr_Rutherford.
