Tennessee football has largest recruiting footprint in SEC
The 2021 Tennessee football Volunteers class dominates the Southeastern Conference region.
It’s no secret that Tennessee football has always gone more national than other elite SEC schools when it was at its best. The Vols just haven’t ever had the luxury of loading up with elite in-state talent the way schools in Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana have.
As a result, when they have the No. 2 ranked recruiting class for 2021 and the top-ranked class in the SEC, you’d expect them to have the largest reach. That’s exactly what they do have if you look at the data.
Right now, Tennessee football has commitments from six of the 11 states that have SEC schools. The LSU Tigers, who are defending national champions, are the only other program with commitments from even five or more SEC states.
UT’s footprint only includes two in-state prospects. The Vols also have a quarterback from Texas, three players from Georgia, four players from Florida and six players from Jeremy Pruitt’s home state of Alabama. They also have a junior college prospect originally from South Carolina.
Beyond just their SEC footprint, though, the Vols are going national. They have begun to make significant gains in the Atlantic Coast with two players from North Carolina, one from Virginia and two from Maryland.
Altogether, Rocky Top has players from six SEC states and nine states overall. We mentioned LSU being the only other school with players from at least five SEC states. They are also the only other school with players from at least seven states overall, and it is right at seven.
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As a result, we can honestly say that UT’s 2021 class is reaching at least two more states overall than every other SEC school and at least one more SEC state than every other SEC school. If you ever needed proof that the Vols were returning to their glory days, this is proof.
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Back in the days of Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee football went all over the country. The Vols had the best pipeline of any SEC school in ACC country, and they dominated in the Carolinas. Meanwhile, they picked off players from Ohio, California and even Hawaii.
Wherever Fulmer needed to find talent, he went to find it. He also made sure to keep most of the elite prospects in the state of Tennessee. Pruitt has done a solid job of that as well, particularly in 2019, even if he let guys like Junior Colson recently get away.
Although he could do better, evaluating the right talent is more important than locking off the state. Early in his tenure, Butch Jones built his top five classes with lots of in-state talent, but many of those guys transferred out or turned out to be busts.
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Simply put, going national and walling off the state while evaluating the right talent is all crucial for Tennessee football. Time will tell if Pruitt is evaluating the right talent. However, he is clearly going more national than the Vols have gone in a long time. That is an early sign of Rocky Top finally returning to what it used to be.