A week to remember for Vols

The week of April 26, 2020 will be remembered as the moment that Vol Football became cool again. Right now, it feels like everyone everywhere wants to be involved with Tennessee. The Big Orange buzz is phenomenal.

The proof of that comes from what Jeremy Pruitt and his staff did on the recruiting front this past week, followed by the reaction of the new commitments themselves, other prospects, current Tennessee players, VFLs and the national media.

Tennessee’s recruiting five-day haul of Dylan Brooks, Kamar Wilcoxson, Julian Nixon, Tyion Evans, and Terrence Lewis is unlike anything I have seen in covering UT's recruiting for over a quarter of a century.

My closest comparison is the Vols landing Jamal Lewis, Fred Weary, Cosey Coleman, and Deon Grant. But those four future NFL players didn’t chose Tennessee in the same week.

I have seen recruiting go all wrong at once (see "Black Monday" 1995), but have never, ever seen Tennessee recruiting go all right at once like what has happened this week. What Pruitt and his staff have done — especially without the ability to visit with prospects face to face — is dumbfounding. Awe-inspiring.

Making this run more remarkable: Going into Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina and beating out the home-state schools, as well as other SEC powers and college football playoff teams for four-star and five-star players.

And the chatter after the fact has featured an electric mix of talk that has taken each commitment's significance and vaulted it to a higher and higher level.

Everyone associated with Tennessee — whether they be currently part of the football program or not — continues to take the volume up to 11 with the building talk that Tennessee Football is not a program, but a movement that will not be stopped. People around the Vol program get it: To take down Alabama, Georgia and LSU, they must appeal to a player's sense that Big Orange will be the college football's color of the next decade. In speaking as one for two-plus years, Pruitt's staff has now perfectly crafted the message, delivered it consistently and have now broken through.

Big Orange is cool again. Big Orange is hot.

And Pruitt and company likely ain't done. April showers of commitments have given the Vols such a recruiting buzz that will likely carry them to another handful of commitments in the next month. Being at 20 commitments to start the month of June is not unrealistic at all.

I kid you not.

Pruitt and his staff have captivated the college football world in a time where football fans are starved for news. Tennessee-driven recruiting oxygen is fueling the Big Orange fire that has everyone talking Vol recruiting nationwide. The first time that I experienced this was in the mid-1990's and, while there has been fits and starts of momentum in the last 15 years, nothing has felt like this.

Now, the challenge is not just to hold onto the class, but to build on it and continue to build by sustaining the cool factor. Don’t be "The Weapon."

I remember in the seventh grade, Converse unveiled the shoe "The Weapon." They had endorsements from Magic, Isaiah, Bird and yet, they were a passing fad. A guy named Jordan took care of that, unveiling his first shoe, destroying "The Weapon" and becoming the next big thing.

Watch "The Last Dance" this weekend to learn more about his branding.

In short, Jordan shoes weren’t a passing fad. His brand sustained because because of his game.

That’s Pruitt’s challenge. Sustaining the brand. It can turn on a dime, positively and negatively. Nine months ago, the Vols lost to Georgia State. They started 1-4 in 2019, yet today, they have a Top 3 recruiting class. Tennessee turned it around by winning their last six games of '19, yes, but they also did it by continuing to work every single day. Pruitt's recruiting week might feel like an overnight success, but it has come from 29 months of driving home his message to players, staff, parents, fans, high school coaches, etc.

People believe. Most importantly, Pruitt's current players believe. You saw it in the second half of the South Carolina game, at the goal-line against Kentucky, in the last five minutes against Indiana. Never forget that a program's current players are its most important sales tool. When your guys believe, they will make others believe.

Tennessee believes something special is going on within its football program.And they are out to convince the world. It's working.

The craziest recruiting week that I have ever experienced proves it.

Tennessee’s brand is back, the coolness of the Big Orange is back.

After last week, ask anybody.