U Recruit

WR Drae Bowles continues in Tennessee's recent string of great receiver recruits.

With only two commitments in the 2012 recruiting class up to this point, the Tennessee Volunteer fans were not worried, but maybe a little anxious about recruiting. After back-to-back top 15 classes, things were moving a little slowly.

Today, that changed for Coach Derek Dooley and his staff, as Tennessee picked up not one, but two commitments.

The first player to commit to the Volunteers was Jackson, TN WR Drae Bowles. The 6″1, 195-pound Bowles is rated a four-star prospect by rivals.com, and the 109th ranked player in the nation. Early on Bowles received a lot of recruiting attention, including offers from Auburn, Arkansas, California, Baylor, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and Virginia among many others.

Tennessee first started recruiting Bowles over a year ago, and he decided today they were the team he wanted to play for.

On film Bowles is a receiver with good size and very good speed as well. He is able to take short passes and make them into very long plays, which is always a plus. At the next level, he’ll need to work on his agility and route-running, but Tennessee is getting a very good player in Bowles for sure.

The second commitment for the Volunteers came from Dunwoody, GA Athlete Justin King. The 6″3, 215-pounder currently plays quarterback for his high school team, though he will play linebacker for the Volunteers next year. A very good athlete on film, King has good speed and agility, and deceptive strength as well. However, King will really need to bulk up and learn the finer techniques on defense at the next level. Unfortunately, the Volunteers are very thin at linebacker, so after a redshirt year King may see the field.

The recruitment of Kenton, Ohio QB Maty Mauk has been well-documented in many recruiting circles. The younger brother of former Cincinnati QB Ben Mauk, Maty has shattered many of his brother’s older records in high school. With his brilliant on the field performance, many colleges came calling for his services, including Ben’s former coach, Brian Kelly at Notre Dame, Missouri, Michigan, and many others.

It appeared early in the process that Mauk would head to Notre Dame, where he and his family were very comfortable with Kelly and his offense. But Notre Dame took four QB commitments in the last two classes, and it appeared they were content with not having a quarterback in the 2012 cycle. Mauk visited both Michigan and Missouri as well, and it seemed that the Tigers recruited the talented signal caller the most.

Today, Mauk officially committed to Missouri while on a visit, as he posted on his facebook page. He becomes Missouri’s 12th known commitment n the 2012 class, and only quarterback.

Listed at 6″2, 185 pounds, Mauk is an ideal fit for the Missouri spread offense. He plays in a primarily shotgun-based offense in high school, so the transition to college will not be very difficult. On film, Mauk has a fairly quick release, and solid, but not great arm strength. He’ll need to improve his mechanics and technique at the next level, but should be able to redshirt and learn under Coach Yost and his offensive staff.

Overall, a solid pickup for the Missouri Tigers, as it seems Indiana QB Gunner Kiel is headed to Oklahoma or Indiana at this point.