When Josh Heupel was introduced as the Tennessee Vols' new head coach in late January, he made it clear he wanted to keep elite players from leaving the state.

"I'd like to close the borders and not let any of them out," said Heupel during his introductory press conference. "Is it going to be a focus? It absolutely will be a focus for us."

"That's the challenge for myself and for our coaching staff, to make contact with those guys and make sure they understand the importance they have inside of our program and the opportunity that they have inside of our program."

This is a common refrain from coaches that are hired to lead Tennessee's football program.

Every coach from Lane Kiffin to Jeremy Pruitt has pledged to "close the borders".

It'll be a while before we know whether or not Heupel was more successful than his predecessors at keeping elite talent from leaving the state.

But so far, it's obvious that Heupel is doing a great job of reaching out to top in-state players and giving them something to think about in the coming months.

Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney reported this week that Tennessee has "made up big ground" for 2022 four-star wide receiver Isaiah Horton, a Murfreesboro native who is rated as the No. 9 player in Tennessee.

Gorney noted that Florida had been viewed as the frontrunner for Horton until his recent visit to Knoxville.

"Horton’s recent visit to Knoxville went really well and the new coaching staff’s vision for how to use the four-star in the offense is definitely appealing," wrote Gorney.

Horton isn't the only in-state wide receiver that is viewing Tennessee in a different light with Heupel at the helm.

2022 four-star wide receiver Cameron Miller, the No. 14 player in Tennessee, is another key in-state player that's considering the Vols mostly because of the presence of Heupel.

"If I pick Tennessee it’ll be because of Coach Heupel and what he brings to the table and what he’s showed me since day one," said Miller to VolQuest this week.

"Tennessee bringing Coach Heupel here changed a lot for me in my way of seeing Tennessee," added Miller.

If the Vols are going to be successful in the coming years, they're going to need to land as much in-state talent as possible.

Fortunately for Tennessee, it appears that Heupel has the Volunteers squarely in the mix for some of the top in-state players in the 2022 recruiting class.

Featured image via UTSports.com/Rivals.com