It’s Tennessee’s turn to impress Five-Star Plus+ DL Walter Nolen

It’s going to be a busy weekend for Five-Star Plus+ defensive lineman Walter Nolen of Powell, Tenn.

First, Nolen and his Powell teammates will battle Page in the TSSAA Div I Class 5A state championship game at 6 p.m. Friday night in Chattanooga.

Then Nolen – who has been committed to Texas A&M since Nov. 6 – and his family are scheduled to head up the road to Knoxville for an official visit with the Tennessee Volunteers.

It’ll be Nolen’s fifth time on campus in Knoxville in the past six months. All indications are the Volunteers are going to put the full-court press on him.

The Vols are not going to make this easy for Texas A&M. On3’s Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons believes Walter Nolen’s recruitment is far from over.

“The Aggies are the leaders and have the commitment for now,” Simmons said. “But do not expect the Vols to go away.”

Walter Nolen’s commitment was big moment for Aggies

Walter Nolen announced his comment while in College Station, Texas, on Nov. 6. Missouri City (Texas) Fort Bend four-star wide receiver Chris Marshall also committed to the Aggies that day, making it one of the biggest single-day recruiting coups over the last few years.

Texas A&M jumped from No. 9 to No. 3 in the 2022 On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking, and the recruiting class has only continued to get better over the last few weeks.

The Aggies have four five-star recruits in the class in Nolen, Frisco (Texas) Liberty wide receiver Evan Stewart, Beaumont (Texas) West Brook safety Bryce Anderson and Cypress (Texas) Bridgeland quarterback Conner Weigman. That’s tied for the most in the country with Alabama.

Walter Nolen has also done some informal recruiting on Twitter, including saying he wants to play with Opa Locka (Fla.) Monsignor Pace five-star defensive lineman Shemar Stewart and even teasing some forthcoming commitments Tuesday morning.

Despite all that, there is a belief that Nolen could flip to the Volunteers.

Josh Heupel has turned around the program in his first year on the job as the Vols are set to play in their second bowl game over the past five seasons.

Tennessee has the No. 19 overall recruiting class in the country, according to the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking. Nolen would be the Volunteers biggest recruiting win in years and immediately become a face of the program.