The Tennessee Vols kept their hot streak going on Tuesday by landing a commitment from four-star wide receiver Julian Nixon.

On Monday, the Vols received a commitment from four-star defensive back Kamar Wilcoxson. On Sunday, they received a commitment from five-star defensive end Dylan Brooks.

Tennessee's 2021 recruiting class is now ranked No. 5 in the nation.

While it's an exciting time for the Vols, it's understandable if some fans are hesitant to celebrate too much.

UT fans have seen this movie before.

Previous head coach Butch Jones fared well in recruiting from 2014-2016, landing the nation's No. 7, No. 4 and No. 14 ranked signing classes, respectively.

Those classes resulted in a letdown 9-4 season in 2016 and a disastrous 4-8 season in 2017.

Because of that failure, there are undoubtedly some Vol fans in wait-and-see mode right now.

But I think Tennessee fans should feel pretty safe celebrating the Vols' recent success on the recruiting trail.

And it's because of one of the biggest differences between Jones and Jeremy Pruitt.

The ability to develop talent.

Look, Pruitt's track record of developing players is tremendous. He's done it at Alabama, Florida State and Georgia. And he's already started to do it at Tennessee.

Take Darrell Taylor for example.

Taylor was a four-star recruit that signed with Jones and Tennessee in 2015. But in his first three years as a Vol (all under Jones), he had played in only 14 games and had three sacks.

In two years with Pruitt, Taylor had 16.5 sacks and ended up being a second round pick. If Taylor had been with Pruitt his whole career, there's no doubt in mind he would've been a first round pick.

Jones' track record of developing players is downright terrible. He misused JJ Watt as a tight end at Central Michigan. Watt transferred to Wisconsin — as a walk-on — so he could play defensive end and ended up being a first round pick.

Two other notable players that played under Jones prior to his time at Tennessee are Travis Kelce (at Cincinnati) and Antonio Brown (at Central Michigan).

Both of those players turned into elite NFL players, yet Kelce was just a third round pick while Brown was a sixth round pick.

It sounds like neither were properly utilized in college.

And that was same story for Jones at Tennessee.

Over 20 players that played for Jones reached the NFL. Only two of them were first round picks (Derek Barnett and Ja'Wuan James) and one of them (James) was already a first round pick before Jones ever coached him (James played only one year under Jones).

More than half of the players who played for Jones and reached the NFL were undrafted free agents. Kahlil McKenzie, a former five-star recruit, was drafted in the sixth round as an offensive lineman — a position he never played once under Jones (though he obviously should have).

There are other players that were drafted who should've been drafted a lot higher (Alvin Kamara for example). And numerous players left Tennessee and turned into NFL players via their development at a different program (Preston Williams at Colorado State as an example).

Recruiting elite players is necessary to win championships. A program can't reach the College Football Playoff without four and five-star talent.

But recruiting elite players is just half the battle. Without development, those players will never reach their true potential.

Jones knew how to recruit. But he had no clue what to do with talent once it got to Knoxville. Once recruits realized that, Jones' recruiting efforts suffered dramatically (Jones' final class was ranked No. 17 in the nation).

Pruitt, on the other hand, knows how to recruit players and he knows how to properly utilize players.

This is just the start of something special for Tennessee. Pruitt has the knowledge and the staff to compete with the Alabamas and Clemsons of the world. He just needs the players.

And it looks like Pruitt is well on his way to securing the players he'll need.

Featured image via Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports/Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports