Two Prospects Decommit From Tennessee

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Tennessee lost two commitments for the class of 2012 during the weekend.

One prospect, wide receiver Keithon Redding from Decatur, Ga., told MrSEC he decommitted from UT because of recent coaching changes.

Wide receivers coach Charlie Baggett left the program last month. UT hired Jay Graham to coach running backs and moved Darin Hinshaw from quarterbacks coach to receivers coach.

Redding, who told MrSEC he will consider Kentucky, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, told ESPN.com that he saw a “whole lot of issues” at UT and factored that in to his decision to look elsewhere.

Redding said the decision to decommit was completely his choice.

That wasn’t necessarily the case for Austell, Ga., linebacker Khalid Henderson, who told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he was encouraged by UT coach Derek Dooley to look elsewhere.

“Coach Dooley said there is a ‘possibility’ you might not be coming to Tennessee,” Henderson said, via the AJC. “He said you have two options: ‘You can stay committed to us, wait it out and see what other players do. Or you can de-commit and try to get some attention from other schools but that doesn’t mean you can’t come to Tennessee’ or whatever. He was very iffy about everything. He wouldn’t say anything concrete. He kept on using that word ‘possibility.’”

Henderson decided it was in his best interest to decommit from UT. And he didn’t appear to be happy about it.

“I thought it was a bunch of crap,” Henderson told the AJC. “I guess if Tennessee is out there looking for other linebackers, then I can do find another place to go. Tennessee is where I wanted to go, and that’s where I’ve been loyal to ever since June. But it is what it is.”

UT will now have to deal with the loss of defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox and linebackers coach Peter Sirmon. The two coaches left on Monday to take the same positions at Washington.

The losses of Henderson and Redding leave UT with 20 commitments for the class of 2012.