Heupel: Tennessee 'Has to Lock Down Our Borders' on Recruiting Trail

Josh Heupel was just introduced as the 27th Head Coach at the University of Tennessee, and he has already hit the ground running. Heupel made it a priority in his introductory press conference to emphasize the 'locking down' the state of Tennessee on the recruiting trail. 

The life blood here at Tennessee is recruiting. That is one of the great things here, you have a national name, national logo, that allows you to go coast to coast and attract the biggest, the best, and the brightest. At the same time, the most important thing that we do is lock down our borders," Heupel stated. 

He added, "we have to keep kids in our state here. That is for multiple reasons. They are going to come play championship caliber football, they are going to be developed, and they are going to have a chance to move onto the NFL. They are going to get a great degree and they are going to be empowered to live in this state once they are done with that degree. We have to do that inside of our own borders. That is going to come from me, it has to transcend through our assistant coaching staff, and it has to reside in every Vol fan here inside the state of Tennessee. Everybody has to bring energy and passion."

Tennessee's class is full of top-end talent in the 2022 class, including consensus top-five player Walter Nolen, elite QB Ty Simpson, coveted running backs Dallan Hayden and Jordan James, highly sought after athletes Cam Miller, Kaydin Pope, Langston Patterson, Keaten Wade, Destin Wade, and numerous others. We will have reactions from several of these recruits to follow. Below are recent Interviews VR2 on SI has with each of the prospects.