The early signing period for several college sports has ended, and the Commodores have received National Letters of Intent from athletes in several sports.
A National Letter of Intent signifies a binding commitment between an athlete and a university, and it can only be nullified under special circumstances (such as a head coach leaving the program). This signing period lasts until today, which means the baseball team will now announce their recruiting class.
Men's basketball only received an LOI from one recruit, Gallatin's John Jenkins, who has been verbally committed to the Commodores since December. However, he has seen his stock skyrocket up recruiting boards since his commitment and subsequent standout performance at the NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp. Possibly the best pure shooter in the class, the 6-foot-4-inch Jenkins is the No. 8 shooting guard in the country.
The women's basketball team did not have any surprises either, but Elan Brown, Tiffany Clarke, Stephanie Holzer and Gabby Smith all honored their verbal commitments and signed their LOIs. From Atlanta, Brown was named a Fifth-Team Sporting News All-American in 2008, and was also a club teammate of Clarke's. Holzer and Smith are stars on two of the nation's best high school teams.
Men's golf announced the signing of two Chattanooga recruits from rival high schools. Ryan Thornton has led The Baylor School to three straight state championships, while Will Snipes of The McCallie School was named the area's Player of the Year. Snipes is also a classmate of Commodore football recruit Jay Fullam.
Men's tennis will also welcome two new home-schooled recruits. At 6-feet-4-inches, Sam Wells is ranked No. 95 by Tennisrecruiting.net. The Boca Raton product even defeated current Commodore Charlie Jones in the National Clay Court Championships last summer. Local product Ryan Lipman will also join the fold in the fall, and is ranked No. 5 in the nation by Tennisrecruiting.net with a 74-12 overall record.
Recruits can continue to verbally commit to Vanderbilt whenever they please, but the next signing period will be football's National Signing Day, which occurs on Feb. 4.
