Tennessee’s early enrollees “learn what it feels like to be a college athlete,” coach Josh Heupel says.

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Josh Heupel didn’t have to sell the vision of Tennessee football when securing his second recruiting class. Heupel had concrete evidence to provide.

Recruits saw the school hosting ESPN’s College GameDay. They saw fans flooding the field after Tennessee beat Alabama and the money being showered on players through name, image and likeness deals. They saw the Vols reach No. 1 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings and receive a bid to a New Year’s Six bowl.

Heupel and his staff were able to make deeper connections with recruits over a longer period of time, and the commitments became official last week during the early signing period.

Tennessee signed 29 new players, including 24 high school recruits and five transfers. The class is highlighted by five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava from Long Beach, California, and five-star defensive lineman Daevin Hobbs from Concord, North Carolina.

“I think they understand the trajectory, where this program is heading,” Heupel says of the new signees. “The fact that you can compete for championships, winning national individual awards and achieve all your on-field goals right here while you’re wearing the Power T and you get to do it while you’re having a heck of a lot of fun competing every day with guys inside of the building.”

The December signing period has now become the de facto signing day in college football, with the bulk of recruits signing early rather than waiting until February.

Twenty-three of UT’s signees will enroll in January and participate in spring practice. A large portion of the class is already on campus and has been participating in practices for UT’s Orange Bowl game against Clemson Friday.

Bowl prep allows head start

Although signees arriving early to take part in spring practice had become a prominent trend, the ability to work with a program during bowl prep provides even more of a jump-start on a college career.

“You get a chance to sit in meetings. You get a chance to go out there and do a lot of individual work. You get a chance to compete in some one-on-one situations,” Heupel says. “As much as anything, I think they learn the tempo of the game. They learn what it feels like to be a college athlete. I think it creates urgency in the way they prepare when they get back to campus.”

Last week’s signing class featured 16 defensive players, including six defensive lineman, five defensive backs and four linebackers. All five defensive backs are on campus participating in bowl practices.

Among the defensive recruits are four-star Tennessee natives Caleb Herring and Arion Carter. Herring, an edge rusher from Murfreesboro Riverdale, and Carter, a linebacker from Smyrna, are two of seven recruits from the state.

“Arion is super athletic, smart and competitive. He’s one of the most mature guys that I’ve gone through the process with, just with what he was looking for and the questions that he asked every time that we had a conversation,” Heupel says. “He pays attention to details. You can notice that by the questions he’s asking about a previous game that we played and also by the way that he prepared for the games that he was going to play. That linebacker position is somewhere that we had to add a bunch of guys to depth-wise.”

The Vols received a late addition to the linebacker room in BYU graduate transfer Keenan Pili, a former team captain who just finished his fourth season with the Cougars.

Heupel says he sees the value in pursuing transfers to selectively fill holes in a roster but still prefers the traditional method of recruiting as the foundation of the program.

“A majority of what we’re going to do is going to be through the high schools,” Heupel says. “I think you got to bring in kids that are going to develop. That gives you stability and growth inside of your program, gives you leadership inside of your program. There’s a culture piece to this game that’s extremely important. I think that has to live within your high school kids that you’re recruiting.”

Hard to factor NIL

This year’s class was the second since the NCAA lifted a ban on college athletes being able to earn money through NIL. Although college programs and collectives built to help facilitate NIL deals aren’t supposed to seduce recruits with promises of money, it’s hard for the NCAA to monitor the activity.

Many coaches have voiced their displeasure with other programs poaching commitments with financial offers, although none have provided concrete evidence.

Iamaleava has attracted much attention for his NIL activity since he first committed to the Vols. Reputable media outlets reported Iamaleava was receiving millions of dollars to play for UT before even throwing a pass.

Now that Hendon Hooker has moved on from UT, Iamaleava has a chance to contend for playing time in the upcoming season. His work during bowl practices has given the coaching staff a better glimpse of his potential.

“He’s athletic, and I say that meaning that he understands his body,” Heupel says. “He can self-correct and get himself in the position as he’s learned what it should feel like in the pocket in a few short days. He can already start to correct himself, he understands when something happens, why it’s happening. That’s only going to continue to heighten.”

Heupel’s vision when he came to Tennessee was to lift the program back to respectability and have the Vols contending for SEC titles and national championships again.

This season’s run set the foundation, and the incoming recruits can help build on the momentum generated.

“It takes everybody inside of the building to recruit elite players,” Heupel says. “I’m really proud of the effort that everybody put into it. I think it speaks to who we are.”