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Vols emerge as ‘contender’ for in-state OL Kamari Blair at 865 Live

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Clarksville, Tennessee offensive lineman Kamari Blair found himself one on one with Tennessee offensive line coach Glen Elarbee on Saturday. The Vols have been making a move for the in-state tackle and he wanted to get to know the staff better.

“He was just coaching me up a little bit, telling me things that he liked about my skill set and things that he thinks I could work on,” Blair said. “They pull a lot of tackles. They do a lot of tackle movement, tackle pulls. And when (Elarbee) chopped up my film, he saw a lot of that, and he said I’d fit right in right there.”

He loved his time with Elarbee and found him to be one thing above all else.

“He’s very genuine,” Blair said of Elarbee. “He’s a very genuine person. Based off of, like, what he was telling me, he loves his guys. But, I mean, he’s going to kick them in the butt when they need to get kicked in the butt. But he’s just a really good coach, really good mannerisms.”

That was also echoed during his time with head coach Josh Heupel.

“He spent time throughout the entire trip getting to know everybody or not getting to know, because they’re all recruits, spending time with families, making sure that everybody’s taken care of,” Blair said. “Very genuine.”

Tennessee just recently offered Blair. He came to town with the Vols behind some other schools.

“They did have a lot of ground to make up. They were pretty far behind when they first offered,” Blair said. “But the relationship with Coach Elarbee, Coach DC (Deonte Cruse), Coach KP (Kevin Pendleton), they all hit me up pretty frequently trying to gain that ground back,”

So now that he has been around them and got a feel, Blair cancelled his official visit to Kentucky and booked one for Tennessee on June 20th. Does that make them a realistic option?

“I wouldn’t set up an OV to a school that isn’t a realistic contender, especially when I have midweek visits, instead of just moving that one into a weekend (spot),” Blair said. “They’re a contender right now.”

Wisconsin is scheduled to host him next weekend on his first official visit. He’s also set to travel to South Carolina the following weekend before taking a midweek official visit to Florida State beginning June 9th. He will then head to Ole Miss the weekend of June 13th.

A decision that gets tougher by the day.

“I feel like right now it’ll be pretty tough,” Blair said. “But I don’t know how it will be after OVs. It’s all up in the air.”

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