New Jersey EDGE CJ Edwards signs with Tennessee, excited to 'compete' on Rocky Top

Bergen Catholic EDGE CJ Edwards committed to Tennessee early in the process, and he never wavered in his commitment, and now he has officially signed his letter of intent.

“It is a blessing and a lot of stress off of me and my family,” Edwards told Volquest prior to signing. “The craziness and all of the running around is over, and that is one of the things I am most thankful for. Going to top, elite program like Tennessee, just getting the opportunity to compete with some of these guys from our really good recruiting class is something I am excited to get after. I am excited to compete with some of the best in the nation.”

Competition is a key piece for Edwards in this process.

“I definitely feel like I can make a big impact because my one goal is to compete. Whatever results from that, we will roll with it. I want to make an impact and disrupt things and bring even more strength to an already talented EDGE rusher room that Coach Chop already has. We have some other great guys in my class, and I just want to compete against them and the guys in the o-line room. I just want to do my best to make the team the best in any way I can.”

The Scout on CJ Edwards

“CJ Edwards, is an interesting edge prospect and one who we saw have some flashes while playing for a top program at Bergen Catholic as a junior,” Charles Power told Volquest at the time of Edwards’ commitment. “For starters he’s a good athlete in the combine setting and on the field and you can see his play speed and get off on his junior film. Just kind of a twitched up active edge defender. And I think he shows very good effort level in the ability to kind of make second effort plays.

“He plays to the whistle and shows effort and pursuit and kind of just plays at a really high speed and is all go at the snap. I think that the effort level and ability to strain to finish plays is very encouraging. He embraces the physical aspect of the game. He initiates contact and looks to be a solid, edge setter run defender and I think one who is gonna each continue getting better on that front. We haven’t seen a ton of film or I guess our exposure to him is fairly limited to this point. But, you know, the, the bits we’ve seen are encouraging and we look forward to kind of continuing to evaluate him. He is an intriguing prospect and one who certainly showed some flashes as a junior at Bergen Catholic.”