Adams: UT’s prospects look good to recruits

College football coaches rarely lose touch with their recruiting lifeline.

You hear about coaches calling prize recruits even as the coaches are preparing for a national championship game.

And you heard Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin immediately putting his team’s 45-19 victory over Georgia in a recruiting context Saturday.

You can do that with a game. Or you can do it with a series of games.

Halfway through their first season under Kiffin the Vols are smack-dab in the middle of college football’s middle class with a 3-3 record.

But that’s not exactly how the first half of a season will be presented to recruits, none of whom are apt to be swayed by the rallying cry: “We’re mediocre!”

Instead, UT’s football sales force will stress the destination, rather than the program’s current location on college football’s landscape. Its message can be both general and specific.

For the last nine months, the Vols have been selling defensive recruits on the advantages of playing for former NFL defensive guru Monte Kiffin. Their pitch should resonate even more now that you have evidence of his impact at the college level.

UT has held both Florida and Georgia under 24 points for the first time since 1999. It ranks 12th nationally in total defense despite playing two teams that rank in the top six in total offense.

The Vols also can offer offensive recruits more than playing time after the 45-point outburst against Georgia.

Never mind that the Vols rank 48th nationally in offense. That’s heady stuff for a program that ranked 115th in the same category last season.

UT has something for every offensive recruit, regardless of his position.

For example, take the offensive line, which has played most of the season without two former starters, center Josh McNeill and guard Vladimir Richard. It also has relied on the development of walk-ons Cory and Cody Sullins as well as redshirt freshman Aaron Douglas, who was converted from tight end to tackle in the spring.

Thanks, in part, to the offensive line, UT ranks 16th nationally in fewest sacks allowed. Moreover, the offensive line gets plenty of the credit for UT’s dramatic improvement to 34th nationally in rushing.

Not only can the Vols sell an offensive line recruit on improvement, playing time is an obvious attraction. UT loses four of its five starters in the offensive line.

UT should look every bit as appealing to runners as blockers. Bryce Brown and Montario Hardesty provide more than a one-two running punch. They provide a one-two recruiting punch.

Brown, the No. 1-ranked running back in the last recruiting class, came all the way from Wichita, Kan., although the Vols were coming off a losing season, and their new coach had never been a head coach at the college level.

Hardesty carries just as much weight in recruiting. In his four previous seasons at UT he had started a grand total of six games and never had gained more than 373 yards in a season.

Under the new coaching regime, Hardesty ranks 12th nationally in rushing with a 112-yard-per game average. And he has accumulated much of that yardage against defenses which made him their No. 1 priority.

UT got Brown’s attention before Hardesty started playing like an All-SEC running back.

Now, following all of the early difficulties in the passing game, UT has something to sell quarterbacks, too.

After struggling for much of the season, quarterback Jonathan Crompton completed 20 of 27 passes for 310 yards and four touchdowns against Georgia.

Any good recruiter knows how to spin that kind of improvement.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.