Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel just proved the naysayers wrong
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel has officially proved his naysayers wrong. On Monday, Heupel took some heat for missing on five-star offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa. The talented recruit was considered a heavy Tennessee lean at one point during the recruiting process, but he chose Miami over the Vols. As a result, there were a […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel has officially proved his naysayers wrong.
On Monday, Heupel took some heat for missing on five-star offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa.
The talented recruit was considered a heavy Tennessee lean at one point during the recruiting process, but he chose Miami over the Vols.
As a result, there were a lot of questions flying around about Heupel's recruiting abilities.
The suggestion that Heupel can't recruit is, of course, silly. He landed a five-star quarterback in Nico Iamaleava earlier this spring. And the Vols have a top 10 recruiting class right now. Teams miss on players from time to time. No one is immune — not even Alabama.
I'd say those concerns have been quelled in recent days.
The Vols have landed four commits in the last week, including four-star offensive tackle Shamurad Umarov, who committed to Tennessee on Friday.
Umarov, 6-foot-6/337 lbs from Alpharetta, GA, is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 19 offensive tackle in the nation and the No. 21 player in the state of Georgia. He committed to Tennessee over offers from Georgia, LSU, and Michigan State, among many others.
Landing Umarov, along with UT's other highly rated commits this week, shows that Heupel has the recruiting chops to succeed in the SEC. He's going to miss on some recruits from to time. Every single coach out there does.
But let's not forget that Tennessee football was heading nowhere fast in early 2021 when Heupel was hired. Yet he somehow has the Vols coming off a winning season and poised to land a top 10 or possibly even a top five recruiting class in 2023.
How can anyone be questioning this man right now?
If Tennessee starts struggling to land top 20 recruiting classes, then folks can panic. But until that happens, there's no reason to freak out every time the Vols miss on a recruit. If you do that, you're going to be overly stressed constantly. Let the process play out. Enjoy the recruiting wins and move on from the losses. Heupel is on the right path. He's ahead of where he should be. And that's a good sign for the future of the program.
Featured image via Saul Young/News Sentinel via Imagn Content Services,
