LEXINGTON, N.C. — Shy Tuttle is soft-spoken by nature and has stayed mostly quiet throughout the recruiting process despite being widely regarded as one of the nation’s top prospects.

Five-star defensive tackle Shy Tuttle of Lexington, N.C., announced his commitment to Tennessee on Friday afternoon.

He made his college decision known Friday afternoon during a ceremony befitting his first name.

The five-star senior defensive tackle from Lexington’s North Davidson High School grabbed a microphone and briefly thanked his coaches, parents and friends before reaching for an orange Tennessee bucket hat to announce his commitment to the Vols.

“I’m going to be playing college football at Tennessee,” Tuttle said, drawing loud applause from teammates, coaches and hundreds of fellow students during the brief ceremony in his school’s gymnasium, where “Rocky Top” was played over the loudspeakers just seconds after he announced his choice.

Tuttle chose Tennessee over North Carolina and N.C. State, giving the Vols their 23rd commitment for the 2015 class and joining Kahlil McKenzie of Concord, Calif., as the second five-star defensive tackle in their class.

The 6-foot-3, 311-pound Tuttle said his longtime leader, North Carolina, finished second to Tennessee. He said he picked the Vols because of “the atmosphere and my relationship with the coaches.”

“I felt comfortable there,” said Tuttle, who’s ranked by 247Sports as the nation’s No. 26 overall prospect and No. 4 defensive tackle in the 2015 class.

“It felt like home.”

Tuttle said the Vols “grew on me" throughout the recruiting process, and he settled on them “a couple weeks” ago. He said he informed Tennessee coach Butch Jones and assistant coach Mark Elder — who’s serving as his primary recruiter for the Vols —Â of his choice “before today,” and “they were pretty excited” to hear the news.

Shy Tuttle sits alongside his mother, Consuelo Tuttle, before announcing his commitment to Tennessee on Friday afternoon.

He said he has developed a strong relationship with Elder, Tennessee’s tight ends coach and special teams coordinator, over the past year and a half.

“We talk a lot,” Tuttle said. “He didn't try to recruit me. We talked as friends.”

Tuttle said he’s also close with some of the Vols’ other commitments, including McKenzie and three-star tight end Kyle Oliver of Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

While Tuttle has been sold on Tennessee for at least a couple of weeks, his mother didn’t necessarily agree with his decision. She said it was “an emotional day,” and she was “excited for him,” but she admitted would have preferred for him to stay closer to home.

“I wanted him to go to Carolina, but he made his choice,” said Consuelo Tuttle, who put on an orange Tennessee shirt after the announcement. “(North Carolina) was just closer to home. (But) it’s his day, so I’m excited for him.”

North Davidson coach Mark Holcomb said Tuttle “felt comfortable (at Tennessee) the first time we went.”

“We went to a lot of different places,” Holcomb said. “We wanted him to see whatever was there. But every time we went up there (to Tennessee), he would just get in the car and he’d say, ‘This place feels good.’ … I told him the whole time it was about him being happy, and that’s what he needed to make sure he was doing.”

Tuttle said he’s planning to be an early enrollee at Tennessee, and he’s hoping that joining the Vols in January will put him “in a better situation to start.”

“I talked to the coaches,” he said, “and they said I have a pretty good chance of starting next year, as long as I put forth the effort.”