Josh Heupel has a real chance this summer to atone for the Tennessee Vols' most painful recruiting misses of the last 15 years
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Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel has a real chance this summer to make up for one of UT’s most painful recruiting misses of the last 15 to 20 years.
The Tennessee Vols have had plenty of painful recruiting misses over the last 15 to 20 years, but one of those misses stands out above the rest.
And that’s because he’s a future Hall of Famer.
Tennessee was a finalist for five-star running back Derrick Henry in the 2013 recruiting cycle.
Henry, though, chose Alabama over Tennessee (Georgia was the other finalist).
Tennessee wasn’t in a great spot as a program at the time (head coach Derek Dooley was fired a month after Henry committed to Bama), but they still nearly landed Henry.
“It was very close,” said Henry in 2012 after committing to Alabama. “I liked the coaches at Tennessee and the way Coach (Jay) Graham recruited me — I really like him a lot. Just seeing what he did in college and in the NFL and then he coached Marcus Lattimore, who was a freshman All-American at South Carolina. Just visiting with Coach Dooley and the coaches, you see how the program is evolving. They are up on the rise and Derek Dooley is doing a good job.”
Josh Heupel can make Vols fans forget about missing on Derrick Henry
Running back recruits like Henry don’t come along often. Adrian Peterson, Leonard Fournette, Saquon Barkley, Bijan Robinson…the list is short.
The Vols, though, have a real chance to land the next running back recruit with NFL superstar potential in 2027 five-star David Gabriel Georges.
Gabriel Georges, a native of Canada who attends Baylor School in Chattanooga, looks like he could play in the NFL right now. He’s the type of player who could carry an offense in the SEC as a true freshman.
The five-star running back, in fact, was just named as the MaxPreps National Player of the Year. He’s the first running back to earn the honor since Henry.
The Vols are going head-to-head with Ohio State for Gabriel Georges — and the Buckeyes are making him a top priority — so the potential for heartbreak is there for Tennessee fans in this battle.
But man, if Tennessee can land Gabriel Georges, he has the potential to make the Vols’ offense unstoppable.
It’s not just the physical talent with Gabriel Georges. He has the intangibles that truly make a player great (much like Henry). He’s a relentless worker, he’s focused on getting better every day and continuing to develop his skills, and he cares about his teammates. All of that is what makes him a potentially transcendent player.
But it won’t be easy to land him. Ohio State rolled out the red carpet for him this past weekend in Columbus, and it’s hard to recruit against the Buckeyes’ strong track record of sending offensive players to the NFL.
Tennessee, however, is very much in the fight.
“The latest is that Ohio State feels good coming off of their official visit this past weekend,” said VolQuest’s Austin Price this week on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will. “You expected that they would. Why would they not? I mean, it’s hard to have a bad time on an official visit. And I would suspect Tennessee will feel the same coming out of this weekend.
“I don’t think he’ll end up taking the Georgia trip. I don’t think they’ll bring him in. They already have (2027 5-star running back) Kemon Spell committed. There’s no point (in Georgia bringing DGG in for a visit). I think that’s all just window dressing, really. I think the Ole Miss (visit) is window dressing as well. It’s been two teams (Tennessee and Ohio State). It’s always been two teams. It’s never been anybody but two teams. Tennessee feels good about where they’re at entering the weekend. Ohio State feels good about where they’re at exiting the weekend.”
The Vols get their chance to roll out the red orange carpet for Gabriel Georges this weekend. It’s time for Tennessee to lay all its cards on the table and go for broke. Landing Gabriel Georges, who is planning to commit on July 22, is that important for Heupel and the UT football program.
Maybe it’s finally Tennessee’s turn to land the next big-time college football and NFL superstar.
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