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On300 wide receiver Joakim Dodson ready to be a part of Tennessee ‘family’

4A3DA472-0F39-4C89-9987-5851509375C0by:Matt Ray•12/04/24•

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Joakim Dodson

Baylor School (Tenn.) wide receiver Joakim Dodson committed to Tennessee early in the process and different SEC programs came into the picture at different times, but he remained true to the Vols. Dodson is ready to get started at Tennessee later in the year after signing with the Vols on Wednesday.

“It is so much relief, honestly,” Dodson told Volquest prior to signing his NLI. “Ole Miss tried to make a late push for me last month. It really just stopped a couple of weeks ago. They made a real late push to try to get me down there. I stayed true because of my relationships with Coach Heupel, Coach Pope and Coach Mack when he was here. It is just different. I can see myself at Tennessee and being a great player. It was a no-brainer when your state has one of the best programs in the country and is going to the CFP this year and has an offense I love. I was just really true to it because it was family there.”

Dodson still has one game remaining in his high school career, and it is the DII-AAA state championship against McCallie. While his high school career is not over yet, he feels like he showcased who he is as a receiver.

“I was always an explosive player, but the stage Baylor presented, obviously playing the first game on ESPN and scoring a big touchdown, I think showed how complete of a receiver I am. People didn’t really know how fast I was before that run on ESPN. Just showing that I am a complete receiver and doing it against some big-time teams in Tennessee and national teams and can do it against any time competition. I feel like this year has really prepared me a lot.”

Dodson will not be an early enrollee, so he will focus on a couple of different aspects ahead of arriving in the Summer.

“Honestly, I am going to spend a lot of time working on my body because the early enrollees will get the time I don’t get,” Dodson said of this. “I will spend time with the strength coach here and speed obviously. I will run track like I have every year to keep improving that.”

The Scout on Dodson

I think first off, he is a functional, coordinated mover. When you watch Dodson run his routes, he shows good burst, good acceleration and has good lateral change of direction at the top of his routes. I think he projects as a guy that is going to be able to seperate with his route running ability and functional movement skills. I think he shows the ability to attack all areas of the field. This is guy who has multi-phase ability as a receiver, in addition to the route running. He shows the ability to win at the catch point. He can elevate and hang in the air and come down with contested catches in traffic. Also shows the ability to track the ball over his shoulder once he creates seperation down the field, and he can work over the middle and pick up yards as well. I think he has a well-rounded skill-set.”- On3 Director of Scouting Charles Power said at the time of Dodson’s commitment

The Film

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