'14 FL OLB Dillon Bates (Tennessee Verbal)

[KyfightingIrish36]

Feel like he might have to redshirt if he was to move inside, which I think would be the best place for him, mostly because he will need to gain at least 20 pounds

 

[GoIrish41]

His dad was a heck of a player -- an absolute stud on special teams for Dallas for years.

 

[irishff1014]

Would be awesome for him to be at ND.

 

[Pa Golden Tate Fan]

Bates Eyes Spring Visits
Dillon Bates is quite familiar with the University of Tennessee. His father, Bill, played for the Volunteers and the 2014 Florida linebacker has made multiple trips to Knoxville, including one for a junior day last month.

“I'm actually going back up there this weekend,” Bates said. “We’re trying to get a round-trip of everywhere to see a few practices. We're going to Tennessee this weekend and we’re trying to plan it out from there for a trip next weekend.”

He enjoyed his most recent trip to Tennessee.

“It was good,” he said. “I got a chance to sit down with some of the coaches and some of the other recruits over there and take a tour of their new facilities and all of that. It went really well.

And he is looking forward to his next.

“I'm looking forward to really sitting down with the linebackers coach there, Coach (Tommy) Thigpen and just talking football,” he said. “I'm trying to see how they see where I'll be playing and seeing an actual practice. I think it’s their first day of practice there. I'm looking forward to seeing how they actually coach.”

But the 6-foot-3, 218-pounder from Ponte Vedra High School (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) has several other offers and is still very open in the process with more visits to come.

“Hopefully we will hit some of the schools that we didn’t get to in the fall; so Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas and some of those schools,” Bates said. “I think we’ll get back to Florida and Ohio State and hopefully maybe to the West Coast to see UCLA and USC. It's going to be a busy spring and summer.”

Notre Dame assistant Tony Alford has been in regular contact with Bates and is trying to arrange a visit to South Bend soon.

“Hopefully this spring,” said Bates. “I've talked to him a bunch and he's real animate about me getting up there and me being on campus to watch a practice whenever I can.”

Even with a long list of offers, Notre Dame is one school that’s definitely caught Bates’ attention.

“Looking back at college football, there are always teams in all of the football magazines,” he said. “One of the schools is definitely Notre Dame. And how Notre Dame just sounds and all of the tradition behind Notre Dame is just really great. It's also a top-five school academically and that is all just really intriguing and something I want to look more in to.”

Bates doesn’t have any favorites yet, but hopes to trim his list relatively soon.

“I'm going to try to get a top 10 or something after this spring just because there are so many other offers coming in like Texas, UCLA, USC, Ole Miss and all these other schools who have recently offered,” he said. “It's kind of made things a little more complicated, but after we visit a lot of places, I'll definitely have at least a top 10 and by summer maybe a top five.”

He’s planning to take all five of his official visits in the fall before making an announcement.

“That will probably be ideal,” he said.

“By then, I'll probably have a real good idea and sometime during one of the All-American games, the Under Armour or the Army one, I'll probably make my decision.”

 

[Whiskeyjack]

“Looking back at college football, there are always teams in all of the football magazines,” he said. “One of the schools is definitely Notre Dame. And how Notre Dame just sounds and all of the tradition behind Notre Dame is just really great. It's also a top-five school academically and that is all just really intriguing and something I want to look more in to.”

Academic rankings, you say?

Either Bates thinks ND is on par with the Ivies (not quite, but hey... bank error in our favor) or he thinks there are four other football schools offering comparable degree value ND (aside from Stanford, not even close). So... maybe good?

 

[Redbar]

Academic rankings, you say?

Either Bates thinks ND is on par with the Ivies (not quite, but hey... bank error in our favor) or he thinks there are four other football schools offering comparable degree value ND (aside from Stanford, not even close). So... maybe good?

Perfect sig! Rolling.

 

[STLDomer]

Per 247 Didn't mention ND has a school that's recruiting him hard or that he has a visit planned to

I think Tenneseee has a big lead

 

[Emcee77]

Damn. I think this kid is a great prospect and I'd love to get him.

 

[Luckylucci]

Me too, that is another let down considering I thought we were all over this kid. Long time to get back in it but we don't need to start from behind we some of these kids.

 

[rtrn2glory]

Per 247 Didn't mention ND has a school that's recruiting him hard or that he has a visit planned to

I think Tenneseee has a big lead

i find it strange that this is another prospect that has stated that ND isn't coming after them as hard as other elite programs....jabrill peppers is the other one i can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Grahambo]

Who exactly are we recruiting hard?

 

[Emcee77]

Who exactly are we recruiting hard?

K.C. McDermott.

 

[Grahambo]

K.C. McDermott.

 

[pkt77242]

K.C. McDermott.

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

Is that Toonces the Driving Cat with a machine gun?

 

[STLDomer]

“@dillonbates: TOP 5:
Tennessee
Florida
Alabama
Texas
South Carolina

Nothing final, just where I'm at!”

says it not final but also said recently he wants to decide soon, so yeah....

Tennessee leads IMO

 

[greyhammer90]

Good for Tennessee. The sec east needs them to step up and I'd love for one of Bama's challenges to get back to being challenging.

 

[yankeeND]

Damn, really want 4 LB's this year and wanted him to be one of them.

 

[PANDFAN]

"I'm still taking a hard look at Ohio State, Notre Dame and Oklahoma also," he said. "I like the integrity of those schools -- just knowing that I could be a part of that and be a part of their tradition is humbling and pretty cool."

insider

 

[dublinirish]

pOSU and integrity should not be in the same sentence.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

He said he is announcing at The Opening yesterday.

 

[PANDFAN]

He said he is announcing at The Opening yesterday.

yeah he mentioned he knows where he is going to be committing to so the fact that he is "considering" us is a joke

 

[Irish Fam]

Tennessee still the leader?

I'm not feeling too confident about the LB position this cycle.

Hopefully things change with some others, but we are definitely behind where we were last year in lb recruiting

 

[IrishinTN]

Yes, Tennessee is the leader by quite a ways. Helps being a legacy and the new coach at UT. He is bringing back some energy to recruiting.

 

[STLDomer]

Bates is a lot of talk when it comes to other schools, he's been a Tennessee lock for months.

 

[dublinirish]

Bates is a lot of talk when it comes to other schools, he's been a Tennessee lock for months.

gawwdammit he Anti-Anzalone'd us.

 

[Irish Man3]

The only other teams that even peaked his interest throughout this process were Florida and OSU.
Heavy pressure to stay close to home. Expecting Vols here unless he pulls a Von Bell.

 

[zbikowski88]

Released his top 5 on a local news station here in Jacksonville, pretty much a Tennessee lock

 

[STLDomer]

Committed to Tennessee

 

[irishff1014]

one hell of a class Tennessee is putting together.