Isaiah Horton impressed after Heupel chat

Hours after accepting the head coaching position at Tennessee, Josh Heupel got to work. His first order of business: reach out to in-state recruits.

The new Volunteer head man has made the rounds in the past 72 hours – making calls across the state. He’s checked in with talented quarterback Ty Simpson, speedy wide out Cam Miller and others in the 2022 Tennessee class.

Heupel also made it a point to connect with Oakland’s Isaiah Horton late Wednesday night.

“We had a great talk. It was all positive,” Horton told Volquest. “He said a lot of great things during the call like trying to build up relationships within the team. Seeing a lot of the current players tweet out positive stuff after their first meeting with him, it was impressive.”

Early returns from prospects this week have indicated that the new coach is ‘easy to talk to’ and ‘very personable.’ And something that really gets some of these recruits excited is the pedigree he brings to Knoxville on the offensive side of the football.

“He loves to throw the football. We all know that’s in his past,” Horton continued. “He said he wanted to keep that going here, but he needs to some athletic and quick receivers like me to do so. I think we are on the same page there.”

The four-star receiver from Oakland High School is a Rivals Top-200 player and the seventh-ranked prospect in the state of Tennessee. The 2020 6-A state champion is pegged as the No. 20 wide receiver in his class.

Heupel made it a point to share his goal of keeping in-state talent at home.

“He told me how important we are,” Horton said of his in-state class. “He was explaining how important it is to stay at home and represent our state. I honestly would like to play for a coach like him with his history.

“Tennessee is also not too far from home and we talked about that.”

The 6-foot-3, 185-pound receiver released his top-six on December 28. The list included the Volunteers – who at the time were still led by Jeremy Pruitt – along with Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss.

“I was surprised to hear from him so early,” Horton said of the Wednesday evening conversation. “It shows how high of a priority we are. It meant a lot that he was thinking about me that early on. He could have been doing a bunch of other things but made me a priority instead.”

Heupel’s conversation with Horton lasted approximately eight minutes and the two plan to speak again in the near future.