Each time the Tennessee Vols hire a new head football coach, we hear some version of the phrase "we're going to own in-state recruiting".

Previous head coaches Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt made that statement when they were hired at Tennessee. And they each ultimately failed.

Jones watched players from Knoxville like Tee Higgins and Amari Rodgers go to Clemson, while Pruitt let the top seven players in the state during the last recruiting cycle sign with other programs.

That's why it's understandable if fans are skeptical when new Vols head coach Josh Heupel makes similar statements about owning the state in recruiting.

"I'd like to close the borders and not let any of them out," said Heupel at his introductory press conference in late January. "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."

It's still very early in Heupel's tenure at Tennessee, so it's impossible to judge his in-state recruiting efforts.

But we at least have a good idea of how Heupel is going to approach in-state recruiting.

And it involves building key relationships across the state at every level.

Heupel appeared last week on WMNL in Knoxville and he detailed how his staff took a few days recently to call every high school coach in the state.

"Over a four-day period, we were able to call every school, communicate with them, get feedback from them on things that have worked well, that haven’t," said Heupel. "Who are the players inside of their program? Who are guys that are potential guys that we don’t know about, or maybe guys that we do know about? Who are some potential walk-ons that we may not know about?"

Heupel isn't just looking for in-state recruits, either. He's also building these relationships in hopes of potentially finding future employees.

“There’s all levels of this program, and you might find somebody that’s interested in coming in and working in video," explained Heupel.

It's clear the first-year Tennessee head coach has a plan when it comes to recruiting.

Will he execute that plan?

It's too early to know for sure.

But there's no doubt that Heupel is better prepared to land key in-state recruits than the previous UT head coach.

Featured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY/UTSports.com