First impressions yield a good recruiting start for first-year coach
At the end of the first day of the inaugural early national signing period, there stood Tennessee with 11 signees, and a pending signature from wide receiver Alontae Taylor.
The results of the day saw Tennessee's class ranking go from 61st to 28th, per Rivals.com, and did exactly what two-week old head coach Jeremy Pruitt needed —It left an impression.
Ironically, it was again Pruitt's first impression that left the Vol fanbase confident.
Two weeks ago in his first press conference as a head coach, Pruitt was confident but raw. His speech was off the cuff. It wasn't polished or rehearsed. It left a great impression, as the first time head coach “won the press conference."
In that press conference, Pruitt cautioned fans not to get caught up in the yields of the early signing period. Well for fans, that's hard to do because of what Pruitt accomplished simply with his first impression.
Of the six players that signed who were uncommitted to Tennessee when the day started, four of them have been to Tennessee one time. Quarterback signee JT Shrout told Volquest on Wednesday that his first conversation with new Vol OC Tyson Helton was less than two weeks ago.
In a day and age where the notion is that you have to get guys on campus as many times as possible, it makes what the Vols did on Wednesday even more impressive. Moving forward, Pruitt and his staff will have multiple junior days. They will have unofficial visitors on campus every weekend they can.
But the last 14 days have been old school work. The idea at Tennessee, created by now AD Phillip Fulmer, has long been that if you can get the prospect on campus then you have a great chance to sign them. That's exactly what Tennessee did this past weekend and it paid off big time with signatures from Shrout, Dommick Wood-Anderson, Jeremy Banks, Kingston Harris, who committed on Tuesday, and Jordan Allen.
With one in-home visit by the head coach and one weekend on campus, Jeremy Pruitt made a lasting impression with everyone. An impression with prospects that yielded signatures. An impression with fans that yielded more confidence. Pruitt has set an early belief that Tennessee, with time, will recruit at a high level under Pruitt. A notion enhanced by the fact that Pruitt and his staff have landed commitments/signatures from four 4-star prospects in 13 days on the job.
“We are very excited to welcome this group of outstanding young men who signed with us today,” Pruitt said in a statement.
“They are terrific football players, who also display exceptional character off the field. We appreciate the commitment they have made to the University of Tennessee. They will be the foundation for our first signing class here. We said we were going to build a fence around the state and this is a good start. We also know that Tennessee is a national brand, and it’s exciting that some of these players from across the country will be wearing the ‘T’ on their helmets. We hope to have a few more guys sign these next two days, too.
"We know we still have a lot of work to do on the recruiting trail, as we will sign several more players in February, but today is a great way to begin.”
It was a day of firsts.
A first ever signing day that's success for Tennessee was created by first impressions. Impressions that fuel confidence in a fanbase grasping for hope and an impression on unsigned recruits that Tennessee is worth looking into, which could make the first month of 2018 an interesting one in Big Orange Country.