No. 3 Safety Terrion Arnold Talks Vols, Updates Recruitment

No. 3 Safety Terrion Arnold Talks Tennessee Vols, Updates Recruitment, and decision timeline

Terrion Arnold is rated as the Nation's No. 3 safety, according to Sports Illustrated, and Arnold kicked his senior season on Friday night

Arnold recently released a top 11, but he broke down several of the SEC programs with SI's Director of Recruiting, John Garcia Jr. on Friday night, including Tennessee.

Arnold told Garcia Jr. on the Vols, "With Tennessee, it's Coach (Derrick) Ansley, he's developed a lot of guys. Coach (Jeremy) Pruitt knows what he's doing. It's an underrated school but I feel like with their fan base and even with the Name, Image and Likeness thing coming out, I can help them come up."

The Vols have recruited Arnold hard for the last several months, and he continues to hear their pitch, but it appears they still have work do.

Arnold mentioned Georgia, Alabama, and Florida as the others recruiting him the hardest.

He told Garcia Jr. on Georgia, "Coach (Charlton) Warren and Coach (Kirby) Smart have been recruiting me extremely heavy and plan to build the defense around me, so I've been talking to them a lot and they're probably one of the schools recruiting me the heaviest."

Nick Saban has made a big impression on the Sunshine State defensive back.

"Nick Saban is following me on a regular basis, it doesn't get no bigger than that," Arnold said. "When I spoke with Nick he said right away I would come in at corner and then go to safety when they go to different schemes and certain things. He's putting the picture in my head of being a leader of the defense. He says he hasn't had a prototype like me for a long time so I look forward to living up to expectations if I go there," Arnold said of the Crimson Tide.

Arnold offered up on the home state Gators, "All the DBs going there, Coach (Ron) English actually coached my coach (Travis Norton), and he's probably been recruiting me the hardest as far as one guy, it's probably him."

As far as a decision timeline, Arnold told Garcia Jr., "I trust my faith and I feel like when that time comes, he'll just put it in my heart and I'll know where I need to go. I just wanna see the schools that have the best level of competition on the offensive end and the defensive end because you get better in practice. All the great ones, they were dogs in practice and became great in practice. So, I really want to go to a school where I can compete. Any school that's telling me I can go and start right away or play right away, I don't need that. I want to go there and fight for mine."

Arnold is rated as the nation's 41st best prospect and 3rd safety by Sports Illustrated.


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Matt Ray
MATT RAY

Matt Ray is the publisher of Sports Illustrated-FanNation's Volunteer Country, serving as a beat reporter covering football, recruiting, and occasionally other sports. Matt also is a lead analyst at Sports Illustrated All-American, Sports Illustrated lead authority in high school recruiting coverage. When not at work covering the Tennessee Volunteers or the recruiting trail, Matt enjoys spending time with his wife Destiny traveling the country.