Josh Heupel Reviews Regional Recruiting Advantages With Tennessee

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel spoke about how the Vols have success in each regional footprint on Monday.

Tennessee head football coach Josh Heupel speaks while Pilot employees and family members attend the Pilot team celebration at Neyland Stadium preserved by Pilot on Tuesday, August, 2024. / Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel spoke on Monday about how the Vols have success in each regional footprint.

Under head coach Josh Heupel, the Volunteers have had several marquee recruiting wins. They went to the West Coast to ink No. 3-ranked quarterback Nico Iamaleava in 2023, stayed southern and landed top-85 recruits Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina in 2024, pulled No. 1-ranked tackle David Sanders Jr. from the state of North Carolina in 2025, and more.

The bottom line is that the Vols are recruiting from coast to coast as well as anyone, and much of that can be attributed to Heupel's recruiting strategy. They prioritize getting on prospects early in the evaluation process, correctly identifying top talent, and ensuring they're one of the first programs to be in on these blue-chip prospects, regardless of where they live.

We've seen much of this come to fruition over the past six weeks. Since June 12, the volunteers have added 15 commitments between the 2025 and 2026 classes. They now have the No. 6 class in the upcoming cycle with 23 commitments and could add another before the end of the week. Heupel touched on all things recruiting during his Monday presser, including how their regional location impacts the coaching staff.

"Tennessee’s unique in all the states that touch it, how close in proximity it is to so many great players," Heupel told reporters. "North, south, east, and west. I think the success of recruiting for us isn’t something that has just happened in the last six weeks. I think that there’s so much hard work that goes into it from your staff and your players here on campus when the recruits come to campus at this point in our tenure, having long-standing relationships with coaches. People have their feet on the ground, the recruits themselves, their families, us being able to recruit to the culture that we’ve built here. The success that we’ve had on the field. Who we are and how we live out every single day. All those things parlay themselves into the success that we’ve had on the recruiting trail here. In particular here over the last month and a half."

Other Tennessee News:

• Tony Vitello Turnaround Nothing Short of Brilliant for Tennessee Baseball
• Jaylen Williams Cuts Recruitment to Four Schools
• Tennessee Vols Football Could Make Playoff According to CFB Data Model

Join the Community:

• Follow Evan Crowell on Twitter: @EvanVCrowell
  
• Follow Blake Schowalter on Twitter: @BlakeSchowalte1
  

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top right-hand corner of the page. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook @VolunteerCountry & follow us on Twitter at @VCountryFN.