As Butch Jones was in the process of informing his staff and others of his departure from the program, it seems he found some time to reach out to players he had gotten to commit to Tennessee in the upcoming recruiting cycle. And rather than reaffirm the players’ decisions to commit to the program, Jones went the other way and allegedly started advising them to re-open their recruitment.
In a report by The Orlando Sentinel, Tennessee Class of 2018 commit Tanner Ingle claims he spoke to the former Vols head coach earlier on Sunday and was told he should start pursuing other options. The three-star athlete (according to Rivals) from Orlando said Jones seemed surprised by the move happening as quickly as it did and said Jones will reach out to him should he find another coaching gig soon enough.
Ingle reportedly is not changing his commitment status with Tennessee, although his recruitment remains open with an official visit to NC State remains on the agenda. Virgina Tech is also reportedly in the mix for his recruitment.
Under Jones, Tennessee had been lauded for bringing in some solid recruiting classes. The problem was being able to take those classes and developing the talent to build a consistent winning program. As witnessed at Tennessee, you can bring in all the talent you can but you still have to find a way to take that potential to the next level.