Recruits get first look at full Monte

Normally, this would be the offseason for Monte Kiffin.

Now it’s recruiting season.

After more than two decades in the NFL, Tennessee’s newly hired 68-year-old defensive coordinator finds himself in unusual places these days.

Take Monday, for example.

Less than a week after arriving in Knoxville, Kiffin and Ed Orgeron, UT’s new recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach, were wooing prospects in Memphis and Mississippi.

The duo will be together all week, selling UT as the place to be for defensive prospects with an eye toward the NFL.

“If we’re talking to a player that wants to get drafted, he’s going to get coached by some of the best position coaches in the country here,” Orgeron said.

That’s exactly the pitch UT coach Lane Kiffin wants to deliver.

“They’re going to sit on that couch in front of (prospects’) mothers and their fathers and their high school coach and in front of the kid and say, ‘You will get coached for three or four years here better than you’ll get coached in college football or anywhere in the NFL,’ ” Lane Kiffin said. “They can say that. No one else at any other school can say what these guys are going to say.”

It’s been a while since the elder Kiffin has said it.

“I tell you what, I haven’t recruited for a long time,” said Monte Kiffin, . “It’s been like … well, it’s been a while.”

The last time Kiffin hit the recruiting trail, Ronald Regan was serving his first term in the White House.

But with his son’s intent focus on recruiting, Monte Kiffin isn’t just a coach. He’s a recruiter, too.

And he doesn’t expect his age to be a hurdle on the recruiting trail.

“Some people said, ‘68 years old, can you still coach at 68?’ ” Monte Kiffin said. “Let me tell you something right now, I’m 68 going on 48. Some people are 68 going on 88. There’s a difference, OK?

“I’m fired up. We’re going to go after the best people we can go after.”

That’s step one.

Once Signing Day comes and goes on Feb. 4, UT’s new staff will begin coaching the talent they’ve recruited as well as UT’s returning players.

Monte Kiffin doesn’t expect his age to be a hurdle, despite dealing with players nearly 50 years his junior, either.

“It doesn’t matter what age they are,” he said. “It’s about the way you treat them. You’ve got to love coaching.”

Coaching is coaching, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be adjustments leaving the NFL for Tennessee.

College football offers a variety of offenses not found in the NFL. Florida, with its spread-option offense, is a perfect example.

But the architect of the famed “Tampa 2” defense knows how to adjust. He’s even seen the option game sneaking into pro football.

“They’ve come up with what they call this ‘Wildcat Package’ in the pros this year, so you’re talking about the option football. We had to defense it some this year,” he said. “It’s still football. We’ll get caught up on it, some of the sophisticated things that were in the NFL but are in college football now.”

For the first time in a long time, Monte Kiffin is back in college football, too.

But as evidenced by last Friday’s formal introduction, he’s ready to hit the ground running — and recruiting.

“It’ll be an adjustment,” Monte Kiffin said, “but it’s more about just coaching it up right and getting the good players.”

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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