Tennessee Volunteers Land Virginia 4-Star DT Eric Crosby
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
Tennessee’s 2017 recruiting class got a big boost on Friday when defensive tackle Eric Crosby picked the Volunteers over in-state power Virginia Tech.
Virginia high school football coaches will be happy when the 2016 season is finished meaning the end of having to game plan against Crosby and Ocean Lakes High School. The Dolphins went 12-1 during the 2015 schedule making a run to the quarterfinals before falling to Oscar Smith (Chesapeake). Along the way a couple of top talents in the 2017 class emerged, a pair of 4-star recruits in running back Khalan Laborn and Crosby.
All Laborn did was rush for 2,228 yards off 206 carries with a 10.8 yard per carry average with 32 scores. Crosby was a brick wall up front coming up with 32 tackles, nine tackles for a loss, two sacks, and two forced fumbles. The big 6’1”, 285 pound, talent even showed out on short yardage plays at running back carrying nine times for 42 yards.
College coaches ate up the talent Crosby displayed pushing 20 Division-I scholarship offers by the time he committed. Among the many to extend offers included Alabama, Florida State, Miami, Clemson, Ole Miss, Penn State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, West Virginia, Pitt, and Nebraska. Crosby visited Tennessee for a Vols’ Junior Day on Feb. 20. Virginia Tech fans were hoping an April 9 visit to campus would sway the in-state talent to Blacksburg.
Crosby made the announcement from the Ocean Lakes library. Via Twitter, Crosby made the news national posting, “Blessed to say that my new home will be…. The University of Tennessee. #GBO.” The highly touted recruit added a statement with the post:
Recruiting efforts for Tennessee have heated up in the last week pulling in commitments from four recruits; LB Solon Page, DB Cheyenne Labruzza, WR K.D. Nixon, and Crosby. The Volunteers now have seven total verbal commitments with Crosby being rated the highest in the class.
Tennessee Volunteers 2017 Verbal Commitment List (7)
CB Cheyenne Labruzza, 5-11, 186, Albany HS, Albany, LA
LB De’Morreal “Mo” Burnam, 6-3, 218, Salem HS, Conyers, GA
LB Solon Page III, 6-1.5, 192, Kell HS, Marietta, GA
DT Eric Crosby, 6-1, 285, Ocean Lakes HS, Virginia Beach, VA
TE Chase Rogers, 6-2.5, 230, St. Stanislaus HS, Bay St. Louis, MS
WR/OLB Marquez Bembry, 6-3, 214, Mount Vernon Presbyterian, Atlanta, GA
WR KD Nixon, 5-8, 182, DeSoto HS, DeSoto, TX
Photo credit: twitter.com; Eric Crosby during his announcement press conference.