Butch Jones was able to put together a top-10 recruiting class in 2014, despite only achieving a, 5-7, record on the football field.
After a more successful campaign on the gridiron in his second year, Jones was able to ride the momentum of a winning season leading Tennessee’s 2015 signing class to a consensus top-five ranking for the first time since 2007.
“With this class we had to go coast to coast,” Jones said. “I think we’ve proven that Tennessee is a national brand. I think we’ve proven that we have the respect around the country for what we’re building here at Tennessee, but we still have a long ways to go.”
On Wednesday, Tennessee officially welcomed 17 signees and three preferred walk-ons to the Vols’ football program, joining the 10 early enrollees who arrived in January, putting the 2015 class at 30 total members.
Highlighting this class is five-star defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie of Walnut Creek, California, son of former Vol Reggie McKenzie.
When McKenzie committed to play for Tennessee in July of 2014, he quickly adopted the role of peer recruiter, encouraging other high profile players to join him in Knoxville.
The strategy worked.
“Kahlil helped us immensely and it was all his doing,” Jones said. “He took great pride in this recruiting class. He forged relationships with every single individual within this recruiting class … You could feel closeness and that bond.”
Jones’ main focus since taking over as head coach is locking down the borders of Tennessee and convincing the state’s top talent to stay home.
This year Jones inked the signature of the top-three players from the state of Tennessee in five-star defensive end Kyle Phillips of Nashville and four-stars, offensive tackle Drew Richmond from Memphis and quarterback Jauan Jennings of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
The Vols were able to add nine total in-state players to the roster, capitalizing on the recent influx of high school talent that Tennessee has seen over the past several years.
“We have great high school football in the state of Tennessee,” Jones said. “And we’re gonna start first and foremost with taking care of home, and we were able to do that. That’s extremely gratifying.”
Adding depth to the roster was a primary focus of this recruiting class, and the Vols were especially successful in taking care of needs in the trenches.
Tennessee added six defensive linemen in the 2015 class, and many of them will be expected to contribute immediately.
McKenzie is rated as a top-five prospect in the nation, but he is just the tip of the iceberg for the Vols. Phillips and four-star defensive tackle Shy Tuttle were able to enroll at Tennessee in January, allowing them to compete in spring practice, though Phillips is currently battling a shoulder injury.
The Vols also added a pair of four-star defensive ends in Andrew Butcher and Darrell Taylor, and three-star defensive tackle Quay Picou rounds out the highly-touted class for Tennessee.
“The thing we have been missing from our defense is an overall edge presence,” Jones said. “If you look at the big bodies in this recruiting class, we wanted length … We wanted to make sure we had that addressed and obviously Kyle Phillips addresses that, Darrell Taylor addresses that.
“Then you look at our size inside with Shy Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie, those two big defensive tackles, and then you have the quickness from Quay that he’ll bring inside.”
While there was relatively little drama leading up to signing day, Tennessee was able to add one last piece as Richmond flipped to the Vols from his commitment to Ole Miss, putting a 6-foot-5, 310 pound ribbon on the 2015 class.
With a top-five recruiting class comes high expectations, and while there are several players expected to contribute right away, Jones wasted no time pumping the breaks on the newly minted Vol signees.
“These are still 17 and 18 year old individuals,” Jones said. “That still are gonna develop at their own pace, and things don’t get changed overnight. We’re going through a process, but I thought today was a great, great step in the right direction.”
