Harvard is a dream school for future lawyers. Doctors-to-be fantasize about Vanderbilt.

So what's the best path for a college football recruiter? Matt Luke has found it.

It would be hard to imagine Luke, UT's new recruiting coordinator, having followed a better career path since he became an assistant coach seven years ago.

Luke was hired by UT in November after four seasons at Ole Miss. He'll coach tight ends. But his name will be most often associated with UT's recruiting classes.

Luke has some big shoes to fill. UT's past two recruiting coordinators, Greg Adkins and Dan Brooks, set the bar high. Luke, however, has the pedigree. He's coached for two of the best recruiters in the nation and played under another.

Luke's recruiting skills surely benefited when he spent last season on the staff of first-year coach Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss. As an assistant coach, Orgeron helped Southern Cal assemble the talent that resulted in two national championships.

Orgeron was hired in Oxford largely because of his recruiting prowess. Once on campus, he promoted Luke to recruiting coordinator. After a 4-7 record, Luke and Orgeron still managed to land a top-15 class in February.

Luke also played for Tommy Tuberville at Ole Miss before he headed to Auburn. Tuberville is widely thought of as one of best talent evaluators in recruiting.

Now Luke has moved to Knoxville to work for UT's Phillip Fulmer, one of the best head coach/recruiters in the NCAA.

Fulmer and Orgeron seem like polar opposites. Fulmer has always been very cognizant of his conservative public persona. Orgeron's claim to fame at Ole Miss was tearing off his shirt during one of his first team meetings.

Orgeron seems to have more in common with Hulk Hogan than Fulmer. Luke says that's not the case. He said both coaches rely on energy.

"You take a little bit from each to mold your own personality," Luke said. "You take the best qualities from everybody. I've been around some really good recruiters."

Unless there is an SEC championship game matchup, it will be years until Luke's old team faces the Vols.

But that won't keep the two schools from butting heads in recruiting, which puts Luke in an interesting position.

Luke should be a valuable asset to the Vols. His contacts in Mississippi give UT a head start in one of the most talent-rich states in the Southeast.

The combination of Luke and ace recruiter Steve Caldwell in Mississippi has to have UT fans excited. The state has been fertile ground for Caldwell in his 11 years at UT. That's formidable competition in a state where Orgeron would like to close the borders.

While Mississippi always will be on Luke's recruiting mind, Tennessee will be his primary concern. Adkins and Brooks helped perpetuate a mindset that in-state players were more important than they had been before.

Luke hopes to do the same.

"At Ole Miss, you were really concentrating on your state," he said. "At Tennessee, you've got to do that, too. You've got to go to every single school in the state."

Said Fulmer, "Matt is smart, organized, has great communications skills and he's a hard worker. All those things make for a success in anything."

There's no question that the Vols have been at their best when their talent level was high. That could be said for any school but for UT it's even more important because of the man-hours the Vols spend on recruiting. Luke understands the pressure, and seems to relish it.

"Recruiting is the lifeblood of every program," he said. "We want to be a top-10 class every single year. With Tennessee being one of the top programs in the country, we expect to be there."

Luke and Fulmer know that resumes are just paper. Luke ultimately will be judged by how he coaches on the field and how he performs on the recruiting trail.

"It is a good resume for him," Fulmer said. "I'm sure he has a desire to be a head coach. I've only seen him for a short time. He kind of has to prove himself right now.

"I think he'll do a good job or I wouldn't have given him the job."