Opening Statement:
“I know today’s an exciting day for lots of guys across the country. I know for everybody associated with the University of Tennessee, we’re excited about the 17 men that signed with us today. When you’re looking for guys to help build your program, to me the first thing you’re looking for is good people. The guys that we signed, they have character, they have competitive toughness, they’re winners. Most of them were captains of their football team. They’re used to playing in December which I think is important. We’ve talked about it here before is you want to play your best ball at the end of the season. We had an opportunity to see a lot of these guys play late in the playoffs. Several of them played in state championship games or played at least until the quarterfinals.
“We had several positions of need that we needed to develop some depth and I think we did that. Probably one of the most important things in this recruiting cycle was the players on our football team right now. The best recruiters that you have are our players and our team did a fantastic job of selling our vision of where we’re headed. I know this last week I think we had maybe 16 guys in on official visits. With our players in there recruiting the guys, there’s a lot of positive energy and I can’t say enough about the guys on our football team and some of our seniors stuck around to help recruit also. To me, that says a lot about where we ended the year. Maybe we didn’t end it exactly where we wanted to as far as wins and losses, but I think they have a vision of where we’re headed which I think is just as important.
“When you talk about the guys that we signed, I think you start on the offensive side of the ball. Our quarterback, Brian Maurer. Brian’s a guy that popped up on the radar late in the recruiting cycle for a quarterback. It’s kind of interesting, the first day he shows up at Tennessee he works out for us and I’m in there meeting with him. His grandmother asks me, ‘Coach, when did you watch Brian’s tape?’ and I said, ‘This morning.’ We ended up offering him a scholarship. He goes on and competes in Elite 11. I think he finished in the top five or six there, had a really good senior year statistically. He’s a guy that can make all the throws, beat you with his feet, really good competitor. I told him, I said one of the things that kind of sold me about you was there’s two times on the tape that you threw an interception and you looked like a linebacker trying to get him on the ground. I think that kind of is a testament to his competitive toughness.
“At wide receiver, Ramel Keyton has been committed to us for a very long time, from Marietta, Ga., plays on a high school football team. Unfortunately, he got hurt midway through the year. He will actually be a mid-year enrollee along with Brian Maurer, so excited to have Ramel. I think he has really good quickness, huge catch radius. He’s very smooth. He understands how to get away from guys. He’s a very polished receiver, comes from a really good football program and again, another guy that’s used to winning.
“Jerrod Means out of Lovejoy is a guy that came to camp this summer. He actually worked out in three different sessions. He weighs 213 pounds. He ran 4.4, really high vertical jump. When you watch his tape, he’s a guy that probably can play multiple positions. He’s very physical. He played some wildcat quarterback. He probably, with the toughness that he plays with, he’s a guy that could play on the defensive side. But he’s a guy that we’ll definitely start off at wide receiver and go from there.
“Tight end was something that we felt like we needed. If you’re going to be able to run the football in this league you’ve got to be able to block in the C-area. We signed two tight ends, Sean Brown from Coosa High School. Sean’s a guy that’s 6’5, 250. He’s a guy that actually, last couple games of his high school career, he played left tackle so he’s a guy that also plays on the defensive side. He’s a basketball player, has really good athletic ability, good student and a tough guy.
“Jackson Lowe, another tight end. Jackson is from Cartersville, Ga., He’s 6-4, 240 pounds. He’s a guy that can have success in the C-area. I think his team got beat in the state championship game, but I think he’s won at least one in his career. He’s a guy that can stretch the field vertically, which is important, has really soft hands and we’re excited to have him.
“Both of these young men committed to us early on in the process, never wavered. We have a lot of guys that committed to us and never took another official visit, so I think that says a lot about them and their belief in what’s going on at the University of Tennessee.
“Up front, offensive line, Chris Akporoghene. Chris is from actually right here in Knoxville. He played at IMG Academy. He’s a guy that came to camp, took a thousand reps. Living here in Knoxville, when you talk about Tennessee, you can see it gets his juices flowing a little bit there and he’s excited to be a part of this program. He’s a guy that can really bend, can generate power, slide his feet. He probably has lots of room he can grow, I think he weighs 295 pounds now, and a guy that played right tackle at IMG, but is a guy that can play anywhere on the line of scrimmage. And he’s only played three years of football, so he’s only going to continue to improve and get better.
“Melvin McBride is out of Memphis, Tenn. Melvin’s a guy that came to camp and we had watched his tape and had a few questions about him, but when he got out here at camp the way he competed, his athleticism – he had a 30-inch vertical jump, which is pretty good for a 310-pound man. He was really good pass protecting and I talked to him a little bit about his run blocking and he told me, ‘Coach, I’ve only played one year of football’, so I think he has a tremendous amount of upside. He’s learning the game, we’re excited to have him. He’s a former basketball player, so that tells you a little bit about his athleticism.
“Wanya Morris is a guy from Grayson, Ga. He played in a really good football program. He’s a very talent guy, smart guy, could really play any position but we’ll probably start off at offensive tackle. He has a very high football IQ, really loves the game, spent a lot of time up here. He has really bought in and helped put this class together. He has done a fantastic job recruiting for us along with a lot of these guys. We’re excited to have him.
“Jackson Lampley out of Nashville, Tenn. Jackson is another guy that probably from the time that he picked up a football, he knew that he wanted to play at the University of Tennessee. Jackson is a guy that has got good feet, has got good balance, he plays with power, plays with a good football temperament and we’re excited to have him.
“On the defensive side we really tried to address some needs up front, we’ve got to create some depth there. Starting in the middle with Elijah Simmons, Elijah is a very unique young man. He comes to camp and he weighs 340 pounds and you’re sitting there watching him out there and just his athleticism, his change of direction, his motor. He never quit out there at camp and did a fantastic job. Had a good senior year. I asked him the other day, ‘how much do you weight?’ and he said 325. I told him, ‘when we offered you a scholarship, our agreement was that you had to be 325,’ and he said, ‘well coach, I can dunk a basketball right now,’ and I said, ‘well I want you to video and send it to me’. Well, he did dunk it, but it was an alley oop, so I told him that he had to get to 325 so he could get off the ground with a ball in his hand to do it. So that tells you a little bit about how he can move.
“Darel Middleton from East Mississippi junior college, he’s actually originally from here in Knoxville. Darel is a guy that kind of found his way to East Mississippi. He’s got a unique story. He’s got three years left to play. A guy that was a tight end in high school, a defensive end that has now grown into a defensive tackle/defensive end type body, 6-6, 290. He has a tremendous amount of upside, when you watch his tape you can tell it’s been two years since he played. Over the course of the season he really improved, and I see him continuing to do that. His college team, they won the national championship for junior college.
“Savion Williams is a guy that came here this summer, a guy that we targeted early on. He is a very large man, 6-4, 315 pounds. Another guy that has three years to play. Savion can play anywhere up and down the defensive line. He’s a guy that played a lot of offense in high school and as he got to junior college played defensive line. Again, another guy that is powerful, can bend and we’re excited to have him. His team went undefeated this year.”
“At linebacker, Roman Harrison out of Bainbridge, Georgia. Roman is a young man that we found in the spring when you go out for spring recruiting. He was a guy that was all over the practice field there in south Georgia. The unique thing about him is that he plays nose guard, even though he’s going to play linebacker in college. We asked his high school coach why he plays him at nose guard and he said that he was the biggest guy on the team. He knew what he was doing, because they won a state championship and Roman was a big part of that. He came to our camp this summer, has a 38-inch vertical, runs a 4.6 40-yard dash at 245 pounds. He’s a guy that has a great motor and is a really good student. We’re excited to have Roman.
In the back end, Jaylen McCollough. Jaylen is from Hillgrove out of Georgia. He’s a young man that I’ve actually known since he was a ninth grader. He came to a camp that I was coaching at and we actually offered him a scholarship between his eighth and ninth grade year. He’s a guy that played on varsity from ninth grade on, was a tailback and then moved to defensive back late in his career. He probably played a lot both ways, but is a guy that has played a lot of football and is a really good football player in a very tough league and we’re excited to have him.
Tyus Fields. Tyus is from Charlotte and comes from a football family. His team I think got beat in the semifinals a couple of weeks ago. Tyus’ father played 12 years in the NFL. He’s a guy that played safety in high school, which a lot of times, high school coaches will put their best defensive backs at safety, but I see this guy being a star cornerback type of guy but could really play any position in the secondary. He’s very instinctive, quick and a good cover guy.
Warren Burrell from North Gwinnett High School there in Suwanee, Georgia. It’s kind of interesting, Warren’s mom is from the same hometown as my wife, so there was a connection there to begin with and it probably helped us a little bit in recruiting Warren. I’ve known him for several years. A guy that is used to winning, he won a state championship last year. He’s an instinctive guy and picked off a lot of passes his junior year, didn’t have as much action his senior year. A guy that is really instinctive, but will probably start off at cornerback.
Aaron Beasley, we’re going to start him off in the defensive backfield. Aaron is guy that played tailback on his high school team, rushed for probably 1,800 yards, but also played both ways at defensive back. They won a state championship. Aaron can play multiple positions, he can be a running back, he can be a linebacker, but we’re going to play him at defensive back and we’re glad that we have him on our team.
One thing about all of these guys is that they’re all really good students. When you sit down and talk to them about what they’re going to major in, it’s business, marketing, engineering. So I’m really excited about this group of guys. Their families have been really involved throughout their recruiting process and I think when you start and you have a year long to do it, you build lots of relationships and I believe that lots of the kids in this group and their families are going to help us recruit other student-athletes to Tennessee for a very long time, so we’re very excited about this group.
On how not having an offensive coordinator changes recruiting:
“I think nowadays coaches change a lot and you’re usually recruiting to the head football coach. So there was never an issue there. We put Shelton Felton on the road. Shelton is a guy that was high school coach in the state of Georgia and has a lot of connections there. He’s done it before and came to us from UTC so he has experience and I just felt like that was a really good fit.”
On immediate impact potential from class:
“To play as a true freshman, you have to have some maturity. It helps that some guys are midyear and we have 12 guys coming in midyear. Also, at the end of the year only played five seniors so, we have a lot of guys that are coming back. What I think we are going to have is a lot of competition and lots of opportunity. Our players have done a fantastic job recruiting these guys because they want to play with good players. The guys that we have coming in in this class realize that we have a lot of starters coming back but, they are embracing the opportunity to compete and to build something at Tennessee.”
On the quarterback position:
“We’ll have three guys this spring in Jarrett, J.T. and Brian. We’ll have really good competition. Obviously, Jarrett has a lot more experience than those guys but, those other guys are really good competitors. They have really good arm strength. They have all of the attributes you are looking for in a quarterback.”
On areas that the staff wanted to address in the recruiting class:
“Every year when you are signing 25 guys you are going to try and sign at least three offensive linemen and at least three defensive linemen. You have to build an offense and a defense and sometimes specialists. Then you take the last three or four spots and address areas where you have more need.”
On areas addressed already on early signing day:
“We looked to recruit the best available players and in doing so feel we hit a lot of needs. There are certain areas of our football team that we just need more numbers especially up front. We probably will look to take another skill player on offense and a skill player on defense. We can’t have enough big men so, we will take a couple other big men if we can get them.”
On focus heading into the February signing day:
“With 17 spots, we still have a few spots to fill. Signing day goes all the way to Friday so, there will be some other guys that are out there that could possibly land here. You have a really good idea when you go out on the 11th where you are at with your numbers. Everyone is going to start their junior recruiting as they are still filling their last remaining spots. With the recruiting calendar, you have to do that. The old May has now become January. It has all moved up a little bit.”
On Craig Fitzgerald staying on as Strength and Conditioning Coordinator:
“I got Craig’s name from Mike Lockley. I worked with Mike and respect him. He’s done a fantastic job this year and will do a fantastic job at Maryland. When he gave me Craig’s name, he told me, ‘when I get a head job I am going to try and hire him from you one day’. That’s what anyone good is going to do. Craig came in this morning and told me that he wants to finish what he started. We are excited to have him here. It was probably one of the top recruits that we got or at least to start the day.”
On the offensive coordinator vacancy:
“I would really like to focus one recruiting right now. In a lot of aspects, the offensive coordinator is overrated. Look at some of these teams out here, it is mostly based on talent or lack thereof. The most important thing right now is recruiting, and we’ll worry about that later.”
On whether or not he encourages signees to early enroll:
“No, we were looking for the best players, the best fit for us, and if they happened to be early enrollees, then that was great. I can tell you this, if I was in high school, I probably wouldn’t be an early enrollee, I loved being in high school, I wanted to play baseball in the spring. There’re some guy guys that want to play basketball, some that want to run track, and some that want to go to prom. We had several young men that asked us if we wanted them to be early enrollees, and we told them it was completely up to them. We want them to be happy. To me, if you look at the generation we’re recruiting, sometimes they try to grow up too fast, and they want it right now. Does it help to have fifteen days of spring football? Probably.”
On how important it is for the team to have continuity with the strength and conditioning staff:
“Well probably the strength staff spends more time with the players than anybody in the program. Craig and his staff have done a really good job since last January when they got here. It’s hard to fix everything in a year; I think they did a great job laying a foundation this past year. I expect, and they expect to see tremendous strides starting next month when we go back to work. We’re glad that he’s back, along with his wife Mary, and we’re glad the guys on this staff are back. Anytime you can keep the same group of men together, you’re going to improve, and I think we’ll see that next year.”
On reestablishing the Tennessee brand when recruiting:
“We’re going to look for the best football players wherever they’re at. You want to start at home base, which is here in Knoxville, and the home state of Tennessee. We’ve tried to do that and we’re going to continue to do that; we’re going to start at home base. Then you go to your neighboring states, which is a common-sense approach there. You have Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, just kind of working your way out. I think that’s the way you have to do it. Atlanta is not but three hours from us, and there’s five million people in the counties surrounding Atlanta, a lot of good football. Lots of people recruit there. We have guys on our staff that have recruited that state before and are familiar with the south, and I hope we continue to have success there.”
On his early signing period experience as a head coach:
“Well, I could actually appreciate this one, as last year I was trying to juggle two jobs. We’re going to go back and do quality control and do everything that we do. We’re going to go back and see why we got the guys we got, and the guys we didn’t get, why didn’t we get these guys. And I think that’s what you’ve got to do in every part of your program. You’ve got to continue to improve, and we’ll go back and see how many guys we got on campus, see who came with them, what we could have done better, and what we could have done differently.”
On how many of these signees could be immediate contributors:
“We wouldn’t have recruited them if we didn’t think they could contribute early. I think lots of times we put unrealistic expectations on freshmen, so I think they control that, they’ll control how much they play. We’ll see.”
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