2025 4-star CB Shamar Arnoux commits to Tennessee

Jeremy Johnsonby:Jeremy Johnson04/07/23

JeremyO_Johnson

Alpharetta (Ga.) Milton 2025 four-star cornerback Shamar Arnoux is a Tennessee Volunteer through and through.

He’s known that for a while. On Friday Arnoux made that feeling public by becoming the first player committed to the program in the class of 2025.

Tennessee’s coaching staff connected with the No. 190 overall prospect in the On3 Industry rankings for the class of 2025 immediately. That won Arnoux over.

“They showed genuine love,” Arnoux said. “It’s like family. I know some of the players on the team. I see myself playing as a freshman at Tennessee. The staff connects with you on a personal level.”

On his first visit just after the Volunteers offered, Arnoux felt it was going to be hard to unseat Tennessee in his recruitment. The fan base was another strong selling point.

“I knew for the from the beginning,” Arnoux said. “I’ve never seen a coach that wants to know how you’re doing. That’s when I knew. They’ve got my back there… The fan base is with you right or wrong.”

Shamar Arnoux shooting for the stars

Arnoux has high expectations in Knoxville.

“By the time I get there, we’re winning the national championship the first year,” Arnoux said.

The class of 2023 was a strong one. It ranked as the 13th overall class in the 2023 Industry Football Team Recruiting Rankings.

Arnoux feels the class of 2024 will be another strong class. He is already beginning to look toward the 2025 class being strong as well.

“We’re going to be stacked,” Arnoux said.

Arnoux is excited about the direction that head coach Josh Heupel is taking the program.

“He’s not scared to take a risk,” Arnoux said. “I respect coach Heupel for the job he’s done leading the number one offense in the country. The development of his players, I don’t think anyone in the SEC is doing that.”

Being the first 2025 prospect in the boat for Tennessee was big for Arnoux. He wants to help lead the class. He’s already set his sights on his new high school teammate Dylan Lewis, also a cornerback.

“It was really important because now I know I have to lead for the program,” Arnoux said. “I’m going to bring some dogs with me… Dylan Lewis, that’s my dog. We go to the same school. Nobody can stop us. We’re like a dynamic duo.”

Lewis and Arnoux have talked about teaming up at the high school and potentially doing it at the college level.

“We talk about it pretty often,” Arnoux said. “Every once in in a while, we’ll bring it up as a joke.”