Tennessee Football: Butch Jones tells recruits to leave program
By Dana Becker
Former Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones isn’t just going to sit on the sidelines and watch as recruits remain committed to the Volunteer program.
Jones stepped down from the program on Sunday, a day after a blowout loss to Missouri.
Nate Hodges, the owner and general manager of FOX Sports Knoxville, revealed on Twitter that Jones is informing recruits they should get away from their commitments to Tennessee “QUICK!”
So Butch Jones is calling recruits, telling them to leave Tennessee "QUICK!" And that if he ends up somewhere to come with him. This is just an FYI for all you, "thanks for all you did, he's a good guy" folks. He doesn't care about Tennessee.
— Nate Hodges (@NateHodges) November 12, 2017
The current Tennessee recruit class includes some high-level talent including defensive tackle Greg Merson, dual-threat quarterback Adrian Martinez, cornerback Jaycee Horn and safety Trey Dean.
According to 247Sports, all four of the previously mentioned are viewed as four-star recruits along with D’Andre Litaker and Brant Lawless.
Of note, Emerson, Litaker and Lawless are all Tennessee natives, which could sway them to remain with the program. Martinez comes from California, with Horn and Dean natives of Georgia.
The class is ranked as the fourth-best in the SEC and 14th-best overall.
Tennessee (4-6, 0-6 SEC) needs wins over LSU and Vanderbilt to reach bowl eligibility after a 50-17 pounding at Missouri this past weekend. Since a September win over UMass, 17-13, the Vols have lost five of six, defeating only Southern Miss during that time, 24-10.
Over the last three years, Tennessee has gone 9-13 in SEC play.
Under Jones, the Vols went 34-27 overall and 14-24 in the league. They won 18 games between 2015 and 2016. He was 23-14 in three seasons at Cincinnati after going 27-13 in three seasons with Central Michigan.
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It would appear that some of those recruits Jones reached out to are listening, as Rivals has dropped them several spots and reports four commitments have decided to de-commit.