Keion Payne says UT will definitely get a visit

St. Thomas Aquinas High School in South Florida is absolutely loaded this year with defensive backs. They claim the #1 corner Lamarcus Joyner who is already scheduled to visit UT for the Auburn game. Cody Riggs, the brother of former VOL Gerald Riggs, is another Raiders db who has the VOLS on his short list.

Keion Payne is another one you can add to the list that has strong interest in the VOLS.

Like Riggs and Joyner, Payne (6'0-168) has over 20 offers and lists the VOLS high on his list.

Payne told Rivals.com "In no particular order I really have five schools that stand out in Florida State, Miami, West Virginia, Tennessee and Ole Miss are the programs I like the best right now. I don't have a leader or a favorite at this point though. Miami and Tennessee are on me the hardest at this point and FSU is starting to really come on lately."

Payne is being recruited by non-other than Eddie Gran and Monte Kiffin.

"Tennessee, I know they are getting one for sure (official visit). Miami will on for sure. If Ohio State comes through with an offer, they will get one. You know, I don't know who else though," Payne told SoFlaFootball.com.

Like Joyner and Riggs, getting Payne to leave the state of Florida won't be easy. Joyner is thought to be favoring the Seminoles and could possibly commit at Seminole Showtime. Riggs lists Georgia ahead of the VOLs. Payne spoke very highly of the hometown Hurricanes after visiting them recently.

The fact is, Eddie Gran is a common threat to all the Florida schools who hope to land the state's top prospects. When a top prospect mentions his top 5 teams, you can almost expect to hear UT just as much as you can expect to hear any of the Big 3 Florida schools.

UT has already landed the nation's top kicker Michael Palardy from STA and hopefully he won't be the last.

VOLS/Gran Doing Work in South Florida

Todd Chandler grew up wanting to play for the University of Miami. Afterall, almost his entire Northwestern team went on to play there after winning a mythical National Championship in 2007. So it was no surprise when the 6'1-290 pound DT committed to Randy Shannon's Hurricanes last December.

But after attending UT's lineman camp a couple weeks ago, Chandler admitted that he was impressed by UT Defensive Line Coach Ed Orgeron and that his mind was beginning to wander.

"Im committed but Tennessee is starting to weigh on me; I can say that," Chandler told GoVolsXtra. "I'll definitely take an officail visit to Tennessee. It's going to come down to signing day," Chandler said.

So how does UT stack up against Miami two weeks after visiting Knoxville?

"I can see myself going to Miami," Chandler told the Miami Herald. "But I'm getting recruited by Tennessee and Georgia the hardest....."But, like I told them, it would take something special for me not to go to UM."

When Lane Kiffin was hired as UT's headcoach he promised fans that his staff would not be outworked in regards to recruiting. Running Backs Coach Eddie Gran, who is in-charge of recruitng South Florida, has already landed 3 committments from the Miami area, including the nation's #1 kicker last week in Michael Palardy.

Michael Langston of FlaVarsity.com says UT & Eddie Gran are making serious noise in South Florida. Of the 100 top prospects in the state, 38 of them have UT in their top 5 or are seriously considering the VOLS according to Langston.

Over the last week UT fans got further proof that Eddie Gran is going to town in the talent rich area. Both the #1 LB Jeff Luc and the #1 CB Lamarcus Joyner announced that they would be using one of their 5 offical visits to check out the VOLS when they play Auburn on Oct. 3. Luc had just returned from a tour of a dozen or so South Eastern schools and apparently UT stuck out the most. UT is the only school that Luc plans to see at this time, but will likely use all 5 of his official visits throughout the season.

I'm sure Miami and all the in-state schools will get their's when recruiting the southern part of the state, but don't count UT out on a couple blue chip recruits like Luc, Joyner, Riggs, and Chandler.

Clements Discusses Favorites, Plans Visits

Joshua Prezant/Miami Herald photo

Booker T. Washington RB Eduardo Clements recently started narrowing his college choices down to just a few schools. Clements admits that he is currently favoring UGA, Michigan, and Miami and plans to take official visits to each this Fall.

With 2 more official visits available, Clements says he will visit South Florida and Tennessee.

Clements would be a fantastic RB for the VOLS in 2010, who are unlikely to sign a top 5 back after signing both the #1 RB and #1 APB in 2009. With most of the nation's top RB's uncommitted, there are still plenty of things that could happen to effect his decision. And as long as Coach Eddie Gran has 7 months to recruit a kid in South Florida, there is reason for VOLS' fans to keep them on their board.

soFlaFB.com