Jeremy Pruitt just added another elite prospect to Tennessee’s 2019 recruiting class with the commitment of Anthony Harris of Havelock, North Carolina. Following this pledge, the Vols now have nine commitments in the class.

The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Harris is rated as a four-star prospect and the No. 11 safety in the nation by 247Sports Composite Rankings. He committed to the Vols over North Carolina, NC State and Virginia Tech. He also holds offers from South Carolina, Clemson, and Oklahoma among others.

During the last two years, Harris has scored seven touchdowns on offense for Havelock High School and registered 139 tackles and six interceptions on defense. Harris is now the highest-ranked defensive player committed to Tennessee — only five-star offensive lineman Wanya Morris currently outranks Harris among Tennessee commits.

Tennessee’s 2019 recruiting class now ranks No. 18 in the nation, up from No. 22, with the addition of this single commitment.

Here’s a photo of Harris shortly after announcing his selection, which was posted by Alex Walker of WITN Sports in Greenville, North Carolina. The caption provided should give Tennessee fans plenty of reason for optimism.

Harris’ commitment comes just one day after Pruitt shared the following comments on what he ideally wants in a defensive back.

“Well, we need guys that can play man-to-man. There’s got to be some point in time if you are going to deny the ball, you gotta play man-to-man,” Pruitt said during his appearance on the Swain Event radio show. “We need to find guys that can play the deep ball in the middle of the field, and we gotta find guys that can tackle in space, you know?

“Great football players come in all shapes and sizes but this is a physical league and the wide receivers that play on the outside nowadays, you better have guys that can go up and highpoint the football because there are a lot of basketball players playing on the perimeter. We need guys with length.”

You can check out Harris’ highlight reel here. While he plays on both sides of the ball for Havelock, Harris projects as a defender for Tennessee: