Why Glendale top football prospect Kellen Lindstrom picked Tennessee over Oklahoma

For all of January, Glendale junior Kellen Lindstrom was overwhelmed by the number of phone calls and text messages he received.

One minute to the next, the star defensive end was hearing from the biggest schools in the nation — Alabama, Oklahoma, LSU, Tennessee, Notre Dame, you name it — wanted to offer him a scholarship to play football.

Lindstrom called it the craziest month of his life.

"It was non-stop and my phone was blowing up off the hook," Lindstrom said Friday night in a phone interview with the News-Leader. "I really had no time to process anything until the spring when I realized that I needed to visit these schools and kind of figure out who wants me the most."

More: Why Ozarks legend Grant Wistrom says Glendale DE Kellen Lindstrom reminds him of himself

Lindstrom eventually went on his tour of schools and then narrowed his choices down to two — Tennessee and Oklahoma.

Wanting to make a decision soon, Lindstrom asked the two schools to not blow up his phone so he could think it out and make his decision within a few days.

"Of course, both of them reached out to me at one point or another during the week," Lindstrom laughed. "Which was fine."

On Friday morning, during chemistry class and without telling his classmates, Lindstrom decided to step into the hallway and called the coaches at the University of Tennessee to tell outside linebackers coach Mike Ekeler and head coach Josh Heupel that he was committed to being a Volunteer.

"It was a gut feeling," Lindstrom said. "I was really high on both of them and the pros and cons equaled out for both programs. It came down to where I thought I was needed the most and where I felt most at home and that was at Tennessee."

The 6-foot-5, 240-pound defensive end made the commitment when he had more than 20 offers from major FBS programs. He's the highest-rated recruit out of southwest Missouri since Hillcrest's Dorial Green-Beckham when he was the No. 1 player in the Class of 2012.

According to Rivals.com, Lindstrom is the No. 133 player in the Class of 2024 with four stars to his name. He has elite measurables with his size and arm length and coaches have praised his high motor. Lindstrom is only scratching the surface of what he can become.

"Of course, Coach Heupel is going to have a big, high-flying offense with great wide receivers and a great quarterback but I think he's really trying to get down to the gritty-type players and the hard-working kids on the defensive side of the ball," Lindstrom said. "I think that's where I fit in because I consider myself a hard-working, gritty kid and I think it would be a great opportunity and great time to show up there and hopefully make a splash."

Lindstrom, also a baseball player for the No. 1 state-ranked Falcons, shared his commitment on social media around 6 p.m. on Friday while keeping it a secret from most of his classmates. Calling from his bedroom, he laughed saying it was prom night for the Glendale seniors and that no one asked him to go. Little did they know that the biggest catch in the school was announcing his commitment.

Instead of dancing to the music, he couldn't stop smiling with his new favorite song, "Rocky Top," stuck in his head. He had a baseball game early the next morning and his phone was blowing up with mentions and new followers from the Knoxville faithful.

There was something about the idea of being in Knoxville that separated it from every other school that he visited.

"It felt like everyone was there with welcoming arms and everyone knew my name, everybody came up to me and greeted me," Lindstrom said. "I love how everything's so tight-knit. Everything in Knoxville is downtown with the university, Neyland Stadium, the facilities, the dorms — they're all kind of in a one-mile radius which is awesome. It's gorgeous right there with the mountains and the Tennessee River riding through it. It really felt like a really big, nice Springfield, to be honest."

After what Lindstrom hopes will be a long run for the Falcons baseball team in the upcoming postseason, he will prepare for his senior year before he puts on the Tennessee Orange. He believes his numbers are set to skyrocket after finishing last season with 40 solo tackles and 73 total. He had six for a loss with one sack while demanding double and triple teams the entire season.

Lindstrom is also happy to have the recruiting "monkey off his back" and can move forward at peace with his decision. After his phone, once again, calms down from all the texts, Twitter and Instagram notifications, Lindstrom wants to hop on a boat and peacefully fish without a worry in the world.

"There's no more stress about finding the right school," Lindstrom said. "I'm just going to get down to loving Tennessee up and becoming a Vols fan and then try and get my parents to buy a bunch of T-shirts and go to a couple of games next year."

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Kellen Lindstrom: Why defensive end picked Tennessee over Oklahoma