Hooker: Kiffin says helicopter a top-flight idea

Photo by James Bryant

Tennessee coaches used a helicopter to aid them in recruiting in Georgia.

Tennessee’s recruiters had two primary directives in mind when they decided to charter a helicopter to fly from high school to high school Friday night.

1. Overcome Atlanta’s dreaded traffic.

2. Wow some prospects.

Head coach Lane Kiffin considers both goals accomplished.

“I thought it was a great idea by (recruiting coordinator) Ed (Orgeron),” Kiffin said Monday on The Sports Page radio show. “It really helped us, time efficiency wise.

“Obviously on a Friday in Atlanta . . . there was traffic everywhere. We were able to get to places quicker than we would have ever been able to.”

Sure the Vols overcame some traffic concerns, but Kiffin agreed there was a wow-factor when the Vols touched down.

“The entrance of doing that, sure there was,” Kiffin said. “I think it shows our commitment to doing things first class. It shows our commitment from our athletic director, to making sure we have everything we need to be able to recruit the best players to come play for the best university in the country.”

The Vols spent $1,250 on the chartered helicopter, according to figures from Tiffany Carpenter, UT assistant athletic director for public relations. UT had received an initial estimate of more than $4,000 and considered scrapping the idea before finding a lower rate from another company and proceeding.

Atlanta was the perfect maiden voyage for the Vol chopper. The Vols were just coming off of a 45-19 win over Georgia that was still resonating throughout the Peach State.

“The reception was really good,” Kiffin said when asked how prospects responded to his first SEC win. “I think that there’s a strong message about Tennessee football and playing young players and how bright our future is here.

“The reception was tremendous, especially in the state of Georgia and in Atlanta. It was really neat to see. People are extremely excited about the direction we’re going and were very excited about that game.”

While Kiffin and Orgeron swooped in, much of the credit for the opportunities in Georgia goes to UT linebackers coach Lance Thompson, who grew up in Atlanta and coached for Georgia Tech for 11 years.

“He’s been in there for a long time and he knows a ton of people so his connections are unbelievable,” Kiffin said of Thompson. “There’s no way without his connections that we’d be able to pull off what we’re going to end up pulling off on Signing Day.”

Whatever happens in February, much of the work was done last week — an off-week in which the Vols were more about recruiting than anything else. UT had only four coaches at its practices last week. The other six were on the road.

Kiffin said he was in six or seven states last week. His coaches were in at least 20.

“I thought it was a great week of recruiting in general,” Kiffin said. “We were all around the country, seeing all the top players in the country. I thought our staff did an unbelievable job of focusing on that.”

That’s never been a problem for Orgeron, who is widely considered one of the best recruiters in the nation.

“He has tremendous ideas in recruiting,” Kiffin said. “There’s a reason that he was the national recruiter of the year (in 2004) and then went to Ole Miss and had so much success and recruited such great players that you’re seeing on the field now.”

Orgeron isn’t the only one coming up with ideas. UT has six former recruiting coordinators on its staff. A great idea could come during any meeting.

“It’s pretty neat to be able to sit in a room and brainstorm and come up with ideas,” Kiffin said. “That’s part of the reason you’re seeing so much success.”

Kiffin said the Vols might use a helicopter again when they recruit in bigger cities. As for other tricks of the trade, Kiffin wasn’t quite ready to share any secrets.

“We need to play well on the field and just continue to develop the relationships that were doing,” Kiffin said. “We’re developing a lot of deep relationships with families and coaching staffs around the country.

“We have to continue to do that in order for us to sign a great class.”