VOLuntarilyConservative

Three pieces of news - first, UT's final verballed commitment, Dustin Lindsey, has committed to the Vols. Second, J.T. Mapu, who has been on a Mormon mission for the past two years, will also resign with the Vols at a later date. Third, Aleric Mullins, who I said this morning was a big piece of the puzzle for UT trying to pull out of this football nosedive, has committed to the University of North Carolina. This morning, I laid out five things that had to occur to pull this day out of the fire. The only one that happened was the final one - we didn't lose any of our offensive line recruits to homestate schools. (Davis has yet to announce, so that one could go UT's way, but I am doubtful.) All in all, a tough day to be a UT Vol football fan.

UT Commitment #22 - Dustin Lindsey



Dustin Lindsey is a name familiar to Knoxville-based Vol fans from his days winning State Championships with Florida State signee Brandon Warren at Alcoa High School. Lindsey, a 6'1", 215 pound RB that Rivals classifies as an "Athlete," will more than likely play RB at UT, especially given that UT failed to sign any other RBs or FBs in this class. Rivals has Lindsey ranked as the 34th best RB in the country, although one has to wonder if that ranking would have been higher had Alcoa not been blowing out every opponent on its schedule.

Much like fellow Tennessean Jacques McClendon, this must seem like the end of a very long journey for Dustin. He committed very early to UT, back in March of last year before the ink was even dry on the 2005 class.

"They have been recruiting me since my freshman year. That is why I felt so comfortable with them. I see a lot of guys on their staff as father figures and I have not had a lot of those in my life."

Lindsey is a great every-down back, as he is big enough to run between the tackles but elusive enough to make people miss on the corners. If Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty return from injury next year, Tennessee looks to be stocked at RB for the next few years.