Josh Heupel's relationship with one of his assistants is attractive to key 5-star recruit
One of the top 2024 recruits in the nation has the Tennessee Vols high on his list in part because of UT head coach Josh Heupel's relationship with a key assistant coach. 2024 five-star offensive lineman Jordan Seaton is one of the top remaining uncommitted recruits in the nation. And the Vols are squarely in […]
One of the top 2024 recruits in the nation has the Tennessee Vols high on his list in part because of UT head coach Josh Heupel's relationship with a key assistant coach.
2024 five-star offensive lineman Jordan Seaton is one of the top remaining uncommitted recruits in the nation.
And the Vols are squarely in the mix to land Seaton, who is set to visit Tennessee for their upcoming game against Georgia on November 18.
Part of the reason why Seaton is so high on the Vols is because of Heupel's relationship with offensive line coach Glen Elarbee.
“Coach Heupel and Coach Elarbee, those two guys right there, they’re like best friends and that’s good for me," said Seaton to 247Sports this week. "Having a head coach that likes to protect the offensive line is good and I like the system they run.”
The setup of coaching staffs is something that's extremely important to Seaton. He recently noted that it's something he was paying close attention to at Colorado after Deion Sanders' demoted offensive coordinator Sean Lewis before the Buffaloes' game against Oregon State last week.
Heupel and Elarbee have coached together since 2016 when both were on staff at Missouri (Heupel was the Tigers' offensive coordinator from 2016 to 2017). Elarbee followed Heupel to UCF and then to Tennessee.
The relationship between the two is obviously strong. And Elarbee is completely dialed into everything that Heupel wants to do offensively (Elarbee also has a hand in Tennessee's "collaborative" play calling process). It goes without saying that Elarbee isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So if Seaton signed with Tennessee, he'd know who his position coach would be for the duration of his career on Rocky Top. That's one of the big advantages that Tennessee has in this critical recruiting battle.
Staff continuity is incredibly important for on-field results and Seaton's comments show it's equally important when it comes to recruiting.
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