Tennessee football: Five positives from Vols hiring LB coach Shelton Felton

2. Deep Georgia connections

When it comes to recruiting for Tennessee football, Shelton Felton’s biggest asset won’t be what he brings to the table in the state of Tennessee. Instead, his value will be what he brings to the table in the state of Georgia.

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Jeremy Pruitt has put a heavy emphasis on Georgia ever since he arrived on Rocky Top. That’s why it was critical for him to lure Jim Chaney away from there and to bring Tee Martin back home. Both of those guys have direct pipelines into that state. Felton, however, has the most direct and most recent pipelines, and that’s a huge deal.

From 2005 to 2016, Felton coached high school football in Georgia. He served as a defensive coordinator for Crisp County High School in his hometown of Cordele, Ga., Dooly County High School in Vienna, Ga. and Colquitt County High School Norman Park, Ga. Then, in 2015 and 2016, he served as head coach of Crisp County.

So the guy has deep ties throughout Southern Georgia, and that could allow Pruitt to build a pipeline into the most fertile recruiting ground in the nation: the Florida-Georgia-Alabama region. This is exactly what UT needs going forward.

Pruitt has tapped Martin and Chaney for the Atlanta area. Chris Weinke and Jay Graham help bring in Florida. Almost everybody on the staff can help with Alabama and Tennessee. But UT now has a direct pipeline into the southern part of Georgia as well, giving them a major recruiting advantage.