Elite defensive lineman impressed by visit to Tennessee
Winning more games is one of the biggest things the Tennessee Vols can do to improve recruiting, but it's not the most important thing they can do. Getting kids on campus, as evidenced by recent comments from elite five-star defensive lineman Payton Page, is absolutely Tennessee's biggest recruiting tool right now. Page, a five-star defensive […]
Winning more games is one of the biggest things the Tennessee Vols can do to improve recruiting, but it's not the most important thing they can do.
Getting kids on campus, as evidenced by recent comments from elite five-star defensive lineman Payton Page, is absolutely Tennessee's biggest recruiting tool right now.
Page, a five-star defensive tackle from Greensboro, NC, visited UT this weekend and he had some interesting comments after his trip.
The North Carolina native told Rivals after his visit that he wasn't expecting what he saw at Tennessee, saying "It really exceeded my expectations to be honest with you, I didn’t think it would be as good as it was."
Page added "I’m definitely planning on coming back for a game this fall. The visit definitely helped Tennessee."
The dynamic defensive tackle, who is rated by 247Sports as the No. 5 2021 player in the nation, said he isn't close to having a top five yet. But he quickly added "I definitely liked what I saw from Tennessee today though".
Tennessee's recruiting challenges
A big challenge for the Vols when it comes to recruiting is that the kids they're recruiting have no first hand memories of Tennessee being anything other than awful. Page was around five years old when Phillip Fulmer stepped down as UT's head coach at the end of the 2008 season. That means the bulk of Page's first hand knowledge of the Vols is the Derek Dooley/Butch Jones eras. The same can be said for essentially every player Tennessee is recruiting.
That's why getting players on campus is so important for UT. A player like Page, who is from central North Carolina, didn't grow up understanding the unique traditions of Tennessee. Seeing it in person can change everything for a recruit. And that appears to be the case with Page.
And that's something that UT needs every recruit in the country to understand. They likely aren't aware of how special Tennessee can be when everything is clicking.
Perhaps Jeremy Pruitt will finally be able to change the national perception of Vol football to what it used to be.
Featured image via Randy Sartin — USA Today/247Sports
