The return of Tee Martin to Tennessee to the Tennessee staff is a big deal both in terms of perception – he’s a former National Championship winning QB with a street named after him on campus and most recently was the Offensive Coordinator at Southern Cal – as well as recruiting. Martin is known as an elite recruiter, having been named the 247Sports Recruiter of the Year in 2016 and consistently ranked among the Top 20 recruiters in the country. Between his two-year stint at Kentucky and his most recent seven years at USC he landed, among others, 11(!) 5-star and 22 4-star recruits for the Wildcats and Trojans, including 9 non-Cali signees.
Where Martin might immediately help is for 5-star WR George Pickens from Alabama’s Hoover High School as he likely has at least some ties there. However, his impact will be much more immediately felt beginning with the 2020 class, which Tennessee has already started out extremely strong with the additions of 5-star QB Harrison Bailey and former Alabama signee and current JUCO DE Jordan Davis. He has incredibly strong ties all over the Southeast and specifically in the talent-rich Atlanta area. He’ll also likely be a major asset as well as in his native Alabama and of course throughout Tennessee, where Pruitt and his staff have made it clear they are very keen on the 2020 instate class.
Tee got his coaching career started in the Atlanta area high school ranks, and has deep connections across the Metro area. Tennessee’s existing staff already has strong ties in Georgia generally – see the 9 of 19 2019 signees being from the Peach State – and Atlanta specifically, and Vols already have their jewel of the 2020 class in Bailey who is from Marietta HS in suburban Atlanta. However, Tee will take that to another level as the Vols look to go head to head with the hometown Bulldogs as well as the likes of Alabama and Clemson for elite talent
RB Tank Bigsby
RB Mecose Todd
WR Javon Baker (Bama commit)
WR Kobe Stewart
TE Arik Gilbert
OLB BJ Ojulari
DL Andy Boykin
DL Nazir Stackhouse (UGA commit)
OLB Zakevious Walker
OLB Phillip Webb
LB Kevin Swint
S Rashad Torrence (UF commit)
CB Jalen Huff (OU commit)
CB Javier Morton (Bama commit)
Current 2020 Tennessee targets in Alabama
Tennessee’s current staff has also made the state of Alabama a priority, which makes sense given Pruitt’s background as well as that of more than a few other staffers. Martin, being from Mobile, has both name recognition and ties in the state and will only bolster those efforts. Tennessee has gotten a good number of 2020 Alabama prospects to campus already, and this effort could also be a factor in what Tennessee decides to do with its final DL spot in the 2019 class, as current commit Ledarrius Cox is from Mobile.
Acknowledging that Alabama and to a certain extent Auburn are always going to be extremely difficult to beat out for homestate kids that they want, the fact that the Tide has experienced so much turnover on its coaching staff this offseason could give the Vols yet another edge in this coming cycle as so many AL kids have seen their Tide recruiters depart. For example, former Alabama OL coach Brent Key, the new Georgia Tech OC, is a Hewitt-TrussvilleHS who recruited his alma mater and was directly responsible for two 2019 Alabama signees and more importantly two 2020 commits (Dazalin Worsham and Malachi Moore) from the school.
ATH Jordan Ingram
ATH Kristian Story (former UT commit)
WR Dazalin Worsham (Bama commit)
WR JJ Evans
DL Eric Taylor
DL Jah-Marien Latham (Bama commit)
CB Malachi Moore (Bama commit)
Obviously 2020 is a long way out, as the Vols are still looking to close out their 2019 class with a bang. However, it is going to be a pivotal class for Pruitt as he looks to build on a solid 2018 class and what looks like a very strong 2019 class and take it to another level in 2020. The addition of Martin to a recruiting staff that already features studs like TE Coach Brian Niedermeyer, DC Kevin Sherrer, Safeties Coach Charles Kelly, OL Coach Will Friend, DL Coaches Tracy Rocker and Chris Rumph, as well as the largest support staff in the history of Tennessee football, is a tremendous boost. It shows yet again that Pruitt and AD Phillip Fulmer know what it takes to get the kind of players to Tennessee that the Vols need to get back on top. Further, and maybe more importantly, it shows that they are both willing to do and spend whatever it takes to make that happen.