Yahoo! Sports' Pete Thamel wrote in July that it's safe to project JT Shrout as one of the biggest steals of the 2018 recruiting class.
The Vols stole Shrout from Cal on the first day of college football's first ever early signing period. The three-star quarterback from Newhall, Calif. decommitted from the Golden Bears on Tuesday before picking the Vols on Wedneday.
When Jeremy Pruitt took over as Tennessee's head coach - and two quarterbacks decommitted - Shrout became a priority.
Pruitt and staff convinced him to take an official visit to UT last weekend, just a few days before the signing period.
"It was just another option that I wanted to check out," Shrout told WBIR in a phone interview. "I was intrigued by the football program and I just wanted to see what they had to offer and I'm glad I went out there because I fell in love with it."
Shrout liked what he heard from Pruitt and athletic director Phillip Fulmer about the direction of the program. He also spoke with offensive coordinator Tyson Helton, who told him the offense would be similar to what Helton ran at USC. And Knoxville's welcoming people helped too.
"Southern hospitality is definitely a real thing," Shrout said. "That was a change from where I'm from in California, people aren't like that, so that was nice."
"I love winning and I'm a real competitive person so I'd like to turn the program around and get it going in the right direction again."
Shrout only started for one season at Hart High School, putting up more than 3,000 passing yards his senior year. Spending time as the backup, he focused on improving his fundamentals and knowledge of the game.
"It's like a chess match on steroids," Shrout said. "I really like the mental part of the game, especially when you get to the college level and everyone around is so talented and so good, so it becomes more you have to know what's going on. It's a mental game and I love that part of it. I'm a super competitive person and it's one of the most competitive sports out there. It's just an amazing game and I like playing it."
Shrout will arrive on campus at Tennessee in June to join Vols quarterbacks Quinten Dormady, Jarrett Guarantano, Will McBride and Seth Washington.