Tennessee Fires up Recruits
Written by Nolan Thomas, Monday July 27 2009
Back in March, The University of Tennessee and new coach Lane Kiffin invited more than 100 high school players to the schools annual Junior Day for recruits. In the beginning, it started off rather routine and blasé, but things were about to change.
“It was just like your normal Junior Day, with coaches and other people from the college talking,” tight end recruit Brian Vogler said. “You could see heads bobbing, with eyes falling a little bit. But the second they split us up from the parents, it got so much more intense.”
The recruiting prospects were then led into the film room, where head coach Lane Kiffin calmly thanked all of the recruits for making the trip and considering the Volunteers as their choice to play college football.
“Then this other coach got up there and said that Tennessee takes special teams very seriously, that it’s a big key to winning,” recalled recruit defensive lineman Denzel McCoy, who has had over 31 scholarship offers from other schools.
“That coach said they get real fired up on special teams and yelled for everybody to ‘Get up, get on your feet, and get fired up about special teams.’ Then this other coach ripped off his shirt Superman style. It was crazy.”
At that point, many of the football recruits were not sure how to react to this spectacle or what else to expect from this visit.
“The coaches told us to stand up, but nobody really knew what to do. We started clapping, sort of like one of those ‘Ah, this feels awkward’ kind of things,” Vogler said. “The coaches yelled ‘OK, we’re going to give you another shot. We’re leaving the room. When we come back in here, we want it really to get crazy.’”
Recruit defensive lineman Garrison Smith said the lights in the room dimmed. “This one coach stayed behind and walked to the side of the room. Then he kept slamming the doors, as if the other assistant coaches were trying to break it down. It was like an angry dog or some wild animals were on the other side.”
After a few minutes went by, Smith said the doors swung open and the
“Eric and the rest of the players were chanting ‘U-T, wild boys … U-T, wild boys … U-T wild boys.’” This time, the recruits jumped from their seats and joined in on the celebration. “We were all jumping up and down together, it was cool,” McCoy said.
After the chaos died down and things seemed to get back to normal,
“The last time, everybody was hyped up and feeling it,” recruit tailback Storm Johnson said. “People were jumping all over the place. It was rocking. You should’ve seen it. Even the podium got knocked over.”
All of the recruits said that Head Coach Lane Kiffin was more of a spectator then anything else. “He was on the side, just watching and smiling,” Vogler said.
None of the recruits had ever seen or heard anything like this action-packed introduction before from any school that they had been to previously and they were all very pumped up and pleased with the demonstration.
“I talked to some of the
“Personally, I liked it, it was kind of crazy, but it was cool. Coach Kiffin is trying to get everyone fired up about
“I loved it, especially when that coach ripped off his shirt like The Incredible Hulk. It was high intensity. I enjoyed the whole day. They definitely moved up on my list,” said recruit defensive lineman Garrison Smith
It may be different and a bit out of sorts, but I am sure that all of these recruits will remember that day and how the coaches and the current Tennessee players got them all pumped up and excited about playing football at Tennessee, even if they do decide in the end to commit to another school.
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