Quavaris Crouch committed to Tennessee on Friday, giving the Vols nine ESPN 300 commitments in the 2019 class.
The commitment also gives Tennessee an extra signee in this class as Crouch is signing on the final day of college football's early signing period.
Crouch, the No. 3 ranked athlete and No. 41 prospect overall, was initially going to wait to announce his decision in early January and was not planning on signing early. He wavered on when to make the announcement and decided to sign with the Vols, choosing Tennessee over Michigan and Clemson.
The 6-foot-1, 222-pound athlete out of Harding High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, was recruited as a linebacker. He is planning on enrolling early at Tennessee.
In Jeremy Pruitt's first full recruiting class he has the Vols with the No. 14 ranked recruiting class in the country. Tennessee finished the early signing period last year ranked No. 37 overall and finished the full recruiting cycle in February ranked 23rd overall.
That is a significant jump in the rankings, especially considering Tennessee went 5-7 this season, losing the final two games of the season to Missouri and Vanderbilt.
Tennessee is returning most of its offense next season, but is losing some key pieces on defense. To help fill those gaps early on, the Vols have a few junior college commitments that should be able to contribute in ESPN JC 50 defensive end Savion Williams, ESPN JC 50 linebacker Lakia Henry and ESPN JC 50 defensive tackle Darel Middleton.
Pruitt and his staff used that strategy in the 2018 class as well, bringing in four ESPN JC 50 recruits from the juco level.
Crouch is the second highest ranked commitment in the class for the Volunteers behind five-star offensive lineman Wanya Morris at No. 7 overall and ahead of wide receiver commit Ramel Keyton, who is the No. 113-ranked recruit.