Online Now 2123

Ga. linebacker commits to UT

Zach Barnes

Defensive end/outside linebacker Zach Barnes of Grayson High School in Loganville, Ga., committed to Tennessee on Friday morning.

A rising senior outside linebacker/defensive end from Loganville, Ga., who participated in Tennessee's camp earlier this week verbally committed to the Vols on Thursday.

Ryan Callahan

    • Dang spirit fingers, you type all that up on your smart phone during your break?

      AtomicCityVol

    • AtomicCityVol said...

      Dang spirit fingers, you type all that up on your smart phone during your break?

      lol classic

      volfan28

    • This cant hurt our chances w/ Robert Nkemdiche

      2008vol

    • Hidden gems are always nice. It's always nice to have kids who WANT to be a VFL. Feed him, redshirt him, turn him loose! Grayson has a full line of kids waiting to make an impact in the future also.

      Rick_W

    • Thanks Ryan! I think this article explains away much of the reason for skepticism with Barnes' commitment. Also a plus that Coach Gregory seems to think very highly of CSS. +1

      This post was edited by allwillbeorange on 6/14/2012 at 1:22 PM

      allwillbeorange

    • True on all counts.

      tnbear66

    • I also like the kids T-shirt.

      tnbear66

    • tnbear66 said...

      I also like the kids T-shirt.

      agreed +1. If he just started playing football in the last year or two, I think CSS saw something there that he could build upon.

      What stood out to me the most in this article though, is how Coach Gregory talked about Barnes. He made it seem like Barnes was a very valuable hidden gem, and a perfect fit for what CSS is building. It'll be interesting to follow his senior season.

      allwillbeorange

    • I like this kid. It's a good program at Grayson, right up the road from me. They play the best teams in Georgia and they have good coaches. They obviously have a lot of great athletes.

      RockytopATL

    • Heck yes!!! Just logged on and we got not one but TWO big time commitments!!! Go Vols!

      BostonVol ●

    • This kid will blow it up this fall- book it!

      OrangeVol79 ●

    • Zack Barnes is a Teamate of #1 Recruit in the Nation Robert Nkemdiche... looking at that Grayson team...they have 11 guys being recruited or in rivals database....that's pretty darn good!

      as for Barnes he looks like a diamond with lots of potential.
      http://www.hudl.com/athlete/229441/#zach-barnes

      He also won the OVERALL camp / combine MVP award at 11th grade NUC Atlanta....imagine that was last summer...?

      coxnvols

    • These two commits pump me up I am really excited with what DOOLEY and company got going on over on the Hill.GO BIG ORANGE!!!!

      TNORGCRSH2012 ●

    • Way to start out a long weekend! Two big commits! I hear he is good friends with Nkemdiche, I hope it snags him too! Fingers crossed!

      Rich182x

    • Lord help me for even thinking this, much less saying it, but I don't see where you fellas calling Barnes a "big time commit" are coming from. I am NOT knocking the young man, and I appreciate and support any athlete who wants to don Big Orange. But...he is still an unrated prospect with limited experience playing football. Coach Sunseri obviously saw enough to offer him, and that counts for a lot, I just think we don't know nearly enough about the young man to call him a big time commit or even a diamond in the rough. I would like to see what our 247 analysts say about him when they get a chance to rate him. Until then, I will hold off on hyping Barnes, but will welcome him to UT nonetheless.

      MiltonVol

    • Email from UGA buddy who lives in Grayson. Sent 1st 3 paragraphs of story to him for his reaction. I hear Clemson, Ole Miss and Bama are the leaders. we may be ahead of the UGA.

      Quote:

      Richard,

      I think you are going to need a lot more than that to get Nkimdeche . LOL. What is sad is that Georgia’s recruiter is not liked at all in Gwinnett county. Georgia could have had Nkimdeche if they would of taken the QB Shussler but they wanted no part of it. We are missing the boat in Gwinnett county. I have some Grayson coaches at my church and they say Nkimdeche may end up at Clemson. Every coach from the SEC and ACC have been to see Mickey this past year.

      Scott

      This post was edited by richmorton260 on 6/14/2012 at 4:03 PM

      richmorton260

    • MiltonVol said...

      Lord help me for even thinking this, much less saying it, but I don't see where you fellas calling Barnes a "big time commit" are coming from. I am NOT knocking the young man, and I appreciate and support any athlete who wants to don Big Orange. But...he is still an unrated prospect with limited experience playing football. Coach Sunseri obviously saw enough to offer him, and that counts for a lot, I just think we don't know nearly enough about the young man to call him a big time commit or even a diamond in the rough. I would like to see what our 247 analysts say about him when they get a chance to rate him. Until then, I will hold off on hyping Barnes, but will welcome him to UT nonetheless.

      Well said MV. +1

      It's exciting to see the commitments starting to come in, and I think it's great to get some "under the radar" types. Hopefully they will all pan out - but it is too early to tell.

      GoBigO

    • MiltonVol said...

      Lord help me for even thinking this, much less saying it, but I don't see where you fellas calling Barnes a "big time commit" are coming from. I am NOT knocking the young man, and I appreciate and support any athlete who wants to don Big Orange. But...he is still an unrated prospect with limited experience playing football. Coach Sunseri obviously saw enough to offer him, and that counts for a lot, I just think we don't know nearly enough about the young man to call him a big time commit or even a diamond in the rough. I would like to see what our 247 analysts say about him when they get a chance to rate him. Until then, I will hold off on hyping Barnes, but will welcome him to UT nonetheless.

      I agree about not hyping him up, but I trust our coaches evaluations. I don't believe this staff would offer he wasn't a good fit with quite a bit of potential, especially at a position of need.

      jcochran0724

    • Quote from Barnes per TOS

      "When I'm not playing football now, in the offseason, sometimes I can't go to sleep at night because I'll be thinking about it so much," Barnes said. "I just want to be playing. I want to be out there fighting with my brothers."

      Barnes, whose father Zach played in the NFL for the Chargers and Falcons, is part of a loaded defense for Grayson, the defending Class AAAAA state champion. The unit includes the nation's top recruit, defensive end Robert Nkemdiche, and a pair of Clemson commitments, David Kamara and Wayne Gallman.

      http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2012/jun/14/graysons-barnes-commits-to-tennessee-football/?sports

      richmorton260

    • richmorton260 said...

      Quote from Barnes per TOS

      "When I'm not playing football now, in the offseason, sometimes I can't go to sleep at night because I'll be thinking about it so much," Barnes said. "I just want to be playing. I want to be out there fighting with my brothers."

      Barnes, whose father Zach played in the NFL for the Chargers and Falcons, is part of a loaded defense for Grayson, the defending Class AAAAA state champion. The unit includes the nation's top recruit, defensive end Robert Nkemdiche, and a pair of Clemson commitments, David Kamara and Wayne Gallman.

      http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2012/jun/14/graysons-barnes-commits-to-tennessee-football/?sports

      Gene's can mean a great deal when it comes to a players ability. What other information do we not have? There may be more to this offer and commitment than meets the eye.

      tnbear66

    • 2008vol said...

      This cant hurt our chances w/ Robert Nkemdiche

      Vols going for a package deal? It's happened before under Dooley and those two were from Georgia as well.

      BrisVol

    • Ha, our package deal lasted about 2 hours. Nkemdiche commits to CLEMSON!

      hdrizzle21

    • I really don't see Nkemdiche being a package deal. Barnes' commitment doesn't hurt, but I don't think it really will make a difference in whether we get Nkemdiche.

      Geez, I sound negative today...maybe it's the humidity!

      MiltonVol

    • This post is for members of GoVols247 or All Access VIP members only. Start Free Trial

      Ryan Callahan ●

Already have an account? Sign In

Add a comment
Want to be involved in the discussion? Start Free Trial
Tennessee
247Sports
Features
Resources
Connect

247Sports In partnership with CBS Sports