Shannon Blair (1) and the West Rebels beat the Oak Ridge Wildcats 22-7 in TSSAA Region 3-5A action on Bill Wilson Field in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. (Photo by Danny Parker)
By JESSE SMITHEY
Not even a day after Josh Heupel was named head football coach at Tennessee did an article or two come out about how he, and whatever staffers he had, had already reached out some of the the top in-state recruits.
Heupel even made mention in his introductory press conference that he wanted to shut down the borders of the state, essentially expressing his desire to minimize departures from the state’s elite talents into programs like Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia Tech and the like.
I reached out Thursday to a handful of the area’s top players — guys with SEC and ACC offers — just to see if they’d heard from Tennessee yet.
They hadn’t.
I tried a couple others on Friday.
Nothing.
That doesn’t mean it couldn’t change today or won’t change in the short term.
Anyway, IMO, here are a few guys Heupel and his staff should probably evaluate and/or offer…
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