Early to rise to the top

Sometime approximately a year ago, around the point that Tennessee was welcoming the program's largest-ever collection of midyear enrollees into its football program, Andrew Butcher had a bit of an epiphany.

"I think it was last year, when it was second semester last year and I was just getting tired of high school," Butcher told VolQuest.com, "and it was like, 'I don't think I could put up with this next year knowing I would have another semester to graduate when I could just get out early and just put some work in this summer.'

"It will pay off in the long run."

The long run is now the present; last month's Rivals.com four-star defensive end now is Tennessee's first-semester freshman. Butcher has company with nine other newcomers just a year after Butch Jones & Co. recruited 14 of them to help resuscitate the Vols' program.

"It's a year-round process, first of all identifying the individuals that fit our recruiting profile and having the infrastructure to be able to mentor them, be able to allow them to have success coming in right from the beginning," Jones told VolQuest.com. "We have such great support services, from player development to academic support.

"But also very important is that it's a tribute to these individuals and their families of raising mature young men to be able to handle the rigors of a full college workload while basically being a high school senior."

It's a process that Jones first selectively implemented during his first head coaching job at Central Michigan University.

"We've had success everywhere we've been stemming back to Central Michigan and Nick Bellore, and it helped him turn into an NFL player," Jones said of his former protege, now a special teams ace with the New York Jets. "He was a freshman All-American for us at Central Michigan. Now he's an NFL player. But we've had a plan in place on midyear guys every year and ever since we were at Central Michigan."

Now, after Tennessee had just 40 total midyear enrollees in the 10 signing classes that preceded Jones' arrival on Rocky Top, the Vols' third-year coach has formally welcomed 29 players into his program across the past three January periods. The Vols never had enrolled more than eight players in a single January term; they've got back-to-back double-digit hauls in Jones' first two classes --- just one man short of a standard 25-man class.

Tennessee has capitalized on lighter signing classes just before Jones' arrival; further it perpetuates its midyear growth through its classroom vision with plans to graduate players in three-and-a-half years plus record-setting academic success --- including football's first-ever perfect APR score and team-high fall semester GPA above 2.7.

"It's the importance of academics, and it's stressing things that matter first," Jones explained to VolQuest.com. "First and foremost, academics. It's our total development of the student-athlete led by Dr. Joe Scogin and his entire Thornton Center staff. The whole key to having success there is having an infrastructure that allows these newcomers to have success."

How comfortable is Jones with the maturity level and ability for his latest 10-pack of newcomers to both handle the college experience and represent the University of Tennessee? Jones elected to make all of them available in large, group-setting interviews across two days last week.

None flinched. But they did share how important being an early enrollee was to them in the recruiting and decision-making process.

"It was very important to me," said newly minted Rivals.com five-star defensive end Kyle Phillips. "I feel like I'm getting a jump ahead of some other freshmen and some guys. It's going to help me in the weight room, conditioning, training and just learning the plays and learning the system. Being more comfortable around this place and the people I'm going to be around. That definitely helped."

Added defensive back Stephen Griffin, "I talked to my coach before last year, my junior year, and a little bit before I committed. Wherever I ended up I was going to enroll early just to get in the system a little bit and get a little bit bigger so I can hopefully make an impact in the fall."

Of the 19 players who enrolled early during Jones' first two seasons atop the Tennessee program, 13 of them made either at least one start or substantial contributions during the 2013-14 seasons, including a number of full-time starters such as Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Cam Sutton, Corey Vereen, Jalen Hurd, Ethan Wolf and Joshua Dobbs, among others.

Seeing those players' impacts and several of his fellow '15 classmates finalizing their mid-term preparations throughout the fall, Jauan Jennings completed an absurd 11-class load while also leading his Blackman squad into the Class 6A quarterfinals.

"It's been a little bit difficult in transition, but we talk about family and I got here, these guys took me in as soon as I got here. It made it easier in the last couple days," said the four-star quarterback from Murfreesboro. "... I didn't even know I was going to graduate early and it popped up. I took the first chance at it. I had to take 11 classes in a month-and-a-half. I did it and it's finally off my shoulders. I'm thankful for the teachers that helped and sat down with me. It's a blessing. Yes [it was mentally taxing], and then I got here and I'm rebooted."

Butcher explains he's seeing the dividends in his decision.

"I think it's huge, because they make sure and make it feel like home already for us," Butcher told VolQuest.com. "Introducing us to the other players and the team, making us feel part of the team. We're not just high schoolers anymore. It's nice."

Jones hearkens back to the total process.

"Being able to attract the right caliber student-athlete that has great competitive character - not just on the field but in the classroom," Jones said. "It's a tribute to all these players, what's most important the game of life and it's academics and having a plan for success beyond four years of college."