Marques Ford was feeling good after a visit to the University of Tennessee in January.
A four-star defensive end in the 2015 recruiting class, Ford had chosen Tennessee over dozens of scholarship offers from power conference programs. His official visit in January was the last step in a recruiting process that began before his junior year of high school. Ford was supposed to be able to relax in the two weeks leading up to national signing day, when his commitment to the Volunteers would become official.
But a phone call from Tennessee defensive line coach Steve Stripling two days after Ford returned home to Gibsonton, Fla.