Tennessee football: Five reasons to not panic over three elite QBs going elsewhere

3. Josh Heupel only had a month to target these quarterbacks.

Look, Tennessee football’s full offensive staff was introduced less than two weeks before any of these commitments. The Vols hadn’t even completed their defensive staff yet. Josh Heupel had only been on the job for a month. He had to complete his staff and make up for a ton of lost ground with these guys, who were being targeted by much more elite schools, within that month.

That was a borderline impossible task. Heupel may be a quarterback guru, but he and Joey Halzle aren’t miracle workers. They actually need to have time to recruit quarterbacks, build relationships and talk about their philosophies.

None of that was possible given what Heupel was dealing with early on. UT was late to the game with its athletic director and coaching hires, so we should also mention that Heupel had to work to keep the Vols’ current class in tact as well.

The timing of when these quarterbacks planned to commit just didn’t line up for the Vols. It came without Heupel and his staff having enough time on the job and with the investigation lingering over the program’s head. Nobody can blame the Simpson, Horn or Martin over that, nor should they think this particular state of Rocky Top is one that will continue.