Tennessee football picked up a second quarterback in its 2023 class just before signing day. Ryan Damron out of Henry County High School in Paris, Tenn., announced he was committing to the Vols as a preferred walk-on.
Damron, who recently received a scholarship offer from FCS school ETSU, was in Knoxville over the weekend. He also held scholarship offers from Tennessee Tech, Samford, MTSU, Eastern Kentucky and Kentucky.
He passed up on scholarship offers to live out a childhood dream at Tennessee.
“I’ve been wanting to go to Tennessee since I was a little kid,” Damron told GoVols247. “Grew up a Tennessee fan. That was always the main goal. Whenever I would think about playing college football, I would think about doing it at Tennessee. That’s always been my goal. Everybody puts it on their wall because it’s something they want to reach and obtain. That was always my thing. I just wanted to make it to Tennessee.”
Damron was a four-year starter for Henry County. He led the Patriots to 5A Tennessee playoff appearances all four years of high school.
During his high school career, Damron became Henry County’s all-time passing leader as a junior. He finished his career with 4,192 career yards as well as breaking the record for most passing attempts and completions his senior year.
At 5-foot-11 and 180-pounds, Damron doesn’t necessarily jump off the page. He ranks as a three-star prospect and the No. 70 prospect from Tennessee.
Despite not being highly ranked, Damron brings crucial depth to Tennessee’s quarterback room.
With the transfer of Tayven Jackson, Tennessee football was left with just two scholarship quarterbacks in Joe Milton III and incoming five-star prospect Nico Iamaleava. Damron now gives the Vols their potential third string signal caller.
It is worth noting that Tennessee football still has walk-ons Gaston Moore and Navy Shuler in the program. Regardless, Damron fills a crucial hole left by Jackson on the depth chart.
