Tennessee is on the short list of contenders for a junior-college defensive lineman who’s planning to visit the Vols next week. Class of 2024 defensive lineman Jamal Wallace of Sierra College in Rocklin, Calif., announced his top five college choices in a post on his X account, and Tennessee is the lone SEC school among his current favorites.
Houston, Memphis, Utah State and USF joined the Vols in the group of front-runners for the 6-foot-4, 269-pound Wallace, who’s planning to take an official visit to Tennessee the weekend of Dec. 15. In October, he told GoVols247 that the Vols were at the top of his list, at least partly because “Tennessee was actually my dream school” even before the Vols started recruiting him.
Wallace is set to travel to USF this weekend for an official visit with the Bulls before heading to Tennessee the weekend before Early Signing Day. He has already taken official visits to North Texas, Houston and Utah State.
Wallace, who attended Ruskin High School in Kansas City, Mo., before going the junior-college route, said Tennessee caught his attention because of former Vols star safety Eric Berry. Wallace, a former high school safety, naturally was drawn to Berry, who played for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. Wallace liked Berry even more after hearing former Tennessee cornerback Inky Johnson talk about Berry.
“I became a fan of (Berry) after I heard a story that was told about him,” Wallace said. “(Johnson) told a story about Tennessee, and then about Eric Berry, and that all just fell into place. But I didn’t know about Eric Berry until he got to the Chiefs, and then his whole background. Then, I found out.”
Wallace said he likes that the Vols were “one game away” from making the College Football Playoff last year.
“Now there are 12 teams that can go to the playoffs next year, so I feel like that’d be exciting for me to be able to go to the playoffs with them if I choose Tennessee,” he said.
Since then, Tennessee defensive line coach Rodney Garner, senior defensive analyst Levorn Harbin and even head coach Josh Heupel have stayed in touch with Wallace. Garner traveled to Sierra on Friday to see Wallace and his team take on College of the Sequoias of Visalia, Calif., in their regular-season finale.
Wallace, who primarily plays outside linebacker at Sierra, said the Vols have told him they like “that I’m very twitchy, and they want somebody playing (opposite) James Pearce.” A sophomore defensive end, Pearce is tied for seventh nationally with seven sacks through Tennessee’s first seven games this season.
“They want somebody to play on the other side along with him, so that’s really been the pitch for them,” Wallace said, “and they feel like I can be that person.”
Wallace added that the Vols envision using him as a “five- and a three-tech,” playing him at both defensive end and defensive tackle.
While he has been more of an edge rusher at the junior-college level, he said he doesn’t “care where I play.”
He played in 10 games this season and finished the year with 39 tackles, including 3.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss, along with two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and three pass breakups.
