The members in the audience at the Tennessee National Signing Day celebration had barely settled in their seats in the Tennessee Theater on Wednesday night when a video began to play.
If one had to describe the theme of the video in one word, the word would be celebration: a celebration of the past year of Tennessee football and a celebration of a consensus top 5 Tennessee recruiting class.
The video featured revered Tennessee legends such as Peyton Manning, referenced the budding relationship between music star Lil Jon and Tennessee football, and paid tribute to the successful fan initiative that painted Neyland Stadium in an orange and white checkerboard for the Florida game.
After the video concluded, Tennessee play-by-play announcer Bob Kesling and head coach Butch Jones strolled onto the stage. When addressing the crowd, Kesling reaffirmed the theme of celebration.
“We are here to celebrate after Tennessee turns in a top 5 recruiting class today,” Kesling said. “This Tennessee program, you know, has great momentum: winning four of the last five games and knocking the stew out of Iowa.”
And while the main point of the National Signing Day event at the Tennessee Theater was ostensibly to celebrate Tennessee’s National Signing Day and the Vols coaching staff’s efforts, the event shifted from a celebration to an exposition on recruiting operations.
Jones began the exposition by addressing the coaching staff’s approach to recruiting.
“Well everything starts with the recruiting profile,” Jones said. “And it starts with character. We talk about character off the field, but also competitive character. Individuals who need football in their life and value education.”
Jones then said his staff addressed the holes on the football team, saying his staff focused their attention on the line of scrimmage.
After he asserted that he felt his staff succeeded in adding depth to the offensive and defensive line, the topic transitioned to the tools of recruiting.
One important recruiting tool: social media.
“It’s changed everything,” Jones said. “Some for the good, and some for the bad. Again it’s a way of life right now, kids can’t live without it. It is the way they get the news; it’s their world. So we have to adapt and adjust and use it to our advantage.”
Yet Jones didn’t keep the spotlight on himself, instead he credited the other individuals who play a vital role in recruiting.
He mentioned Bob Welton, the director of Player Personnel, who handles the day-to-day operations in recruiting and mentioned wide receivers coach Zach Azzani, the recruiting coordinator.
Both men walked on the stage at separate times during the National Signing Day celebration event to discuss their job responsibilities and to explain the finer intricacies on recruiting.
Welton admitted he watches hours of film on recruits and searches for players who play on championship teams.
“We obviously want to win a national championship here,” Welton said. “So let’s go find kids who know how to win games.”
Azzani discussed the diffusion of responsibility among the coaches in recruiting, saying the position coaches are responsible for pursuing commits in their specific position.
The fans didn’t seem to mind the exposition on recruiting, in fact, a detailed explanation on recruiting might have been what they wanted to hear.
“I think the real insight we got was the way the coaching staff divides up the responsibilities,” said Briton Collin, a lifelong Vols fan who lives in Knoxville. “I think people have assumptions about how that works, but you never really know. And Coach Azzani did a really good job of explaining how the defensive coordinators and the offensive coordinators and their staffs break everything up.”
The event concluded with a video containing a highlight-reel of the best plays in the 2014 Tennessee football season. When the video ended, the audience gave a rousing round of applause.
After listening to an exposition for a hour, the audience members left celebrating the recruiting class and celebrating being a Vol fan.
