College football recruiting: William Satterwhite of Hoban commits to Tennessee Volunteers

William Satterwhite loves the longshot.

The No. 1 recruit in the Greater Akron/Canton area chose Tennessee over Clemson on Friday and heads to Knoxville in January as an early enrollee.

If the Hoban senior has it his way, Tennessee will be the bullies of college football by the time he’s finished.

The Volunteers are already ahead of the curve after a 2022 season in which they finished 11-2, beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl and finished sixth in the final Associated Press poll.

“It was a really tough decision between a lot of great programs,” Satterwhite said. “I feel like Tennessee was the underdog and I love the underdog story, so going somewhere not as well known as a Georgia or Alabama, I want to come in in a couple years and make some headlines.”

Georgia and Alabama knew all about the 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive lineman and were in Satterwhite’s final nine along with Auburn, Cincinnati, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Clemson and Tennessee.

In the end, the school that received his last official visit and one of the first schools to reach out to him got the nod.

“I like the dedication and the environment,” Satterwhite said. “The future really sticks out for me. They see me as a player that can come in early and possibly get on the field early as well and really help the offensive linemen out to hopefully get to the national championship.”

William Satterwhite and Tennessee coach Josh Heupel are born winners

Satterwhite certainly has a winner’s mentality as Hoban has finished state runner-up the last two seasons in Division II after winning it all his freshman season.

Last year, he was a big reason why Lamar Sperling rushed for 3,867 yards and 59 touchdowns en route to winning Ohio's Mr. Football award.

Should statistics like that continue, the hope is to follow in the footsteps of Tennessee great Darnell White, who was taken with the 10th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears.

He’s also joining head coach Josh Heupel, who is turning the culture around at Tennessee.

Heupel has a 46-16 (.742) overall record and a 30-11 (.732) conference mark in five seasons as an FBS head coach. Those victories rank in the top eight among active FBS coaches.

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He has won multiple national championships (as an assistant at Oklahoma), eight conference championships, coached in 18 bowl games, developed two Heisman Trophy winners and five top-five Heisman finishers. Heupel also ranks in the top 10 among head coaches in NFL Draft picks produced in the last three drafts (15).

“Coach Heupel has big plans for the program as far as where he wants it to go in the next couple years,” Satterwhite said. “Just being able to come in the spring and witness that early is going to be great.

“I feel like getting to college early will be beneficial so I can learn about college life early. I’ll get to be in the meeting rooms and learn the plays early on and build a team bond quicker.”

William Satterwhite hopes for one final hurrah with Hoban this fall

Satterwhite plans on majoring in engineering.

He also has big plans for Hoban in his final season.

“I’m really excited to get back on the field,” he said. “This is what we’ve been working for. It’s getting back to state and hopefully winning it this year. I’m excited about all the work everyone has been putting in.”

Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: William Satterwhite of Hoban chooses Tennessee over Clemson