Prized LB Jeremiah Telander Recaps Tennessee Visit

Tennessee hosted Gainesville (Ga.) standout linebacker Jeremiah Telander for their second Junior Day of the year. The coveted Peach State prospect details the visit with Volunteer Country. 

Telander enjoyed his time in Knoxville and got to take in his first college basketball game during the process, as Rick Barnes's team hosted Arkansas.

 "It was my fourth time at Tennessee, so I'm familiar with the place," Telander said of the visit. "So I'd never actually gone to a college basketball game before today, so it was pretty special to see the fanbase like that. Shows you how consistent the fanbase is with all the sports. They have a great fanbase there so I love that. Got a chance to have one on one time with Coach BJ, he pulled up some of my clips and compared it to some of their line backer's clips. Showed me some things I can improve on in the off-season. Showed me a lot of things that he likes about the way I play, so that was cool. I had a chance to talk to Coach Heupel during the game, so we had some one on one time talking about getting an official visit, and  everything like that."

Telander and Vols Linebacker Coach Brian Jean-Mary have continued to build a bond in the recent months. 

"With coach BJ, I like how personable he is," Telander told Volunteer Country last week before his visit. "Same thing with Coach Heupel. They do a good job of making sure my family and everybody are alright. I like them a lot."

This visit allowed the 6'2, 215lbs linebacker the opportunity to get more face time with Josh Heupel as well.

 "You could really just tell how passionate he was and how focused he was," Telander said of what stood out about the time with Heupel. "We started talking about the vision he has for the place, and you can see it in the eyes, how passionate he gets and how much he really believes. I really do believe also that this is a program that is coming up and just waiting for a spark to happen. You can feel that with everyone there, it's a place filled with great people."

The time spent with Jean-Mary allowed Telander to see, once again, exactly how he can be utilized in Tennessee's defense.

 "That's exactly what it did," Telander said of if he could see the position fit the Tennessee staff had been telling him about.  "He (Jean-Mary said, 'they have really three phases. They have a run defense, you gotta be able to pash rush, and you also have to cover. He showed a few of my plays that I have of those and showed me a couple of things I could do to get better on, as well as things I'm strong on. That was very motivating for me."

Telander plans to get back to Tennessee at some point for an official visit, and he has several other visits lined up for this Spring as his recruitment continues to explode, but the Vols have certainly made an impression on him to this point as they battler numerous other suitors. 

"They are very high on the list. I really like Tennessee, so they are very high on the list."