Tennessee’s coaching staff already has a lot of talented and high level recruiters. It starts at the top with Jeremy Pruitt as head coach, and it’s bolstered by tight ends coach Brian Niedermeyer, co-defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer, and offensive line coach Will Friend among others.
This week, the Vols added another exceptional recruiter to their staff.
Tee Martin is returning to Knoxville and will be on UT’s coaching staff for the 2019 season. His hiring still hasn’t been officially announced by the university, but he’ll be on staff in some capacity and will immediately hit the recruiting trail as soon as he can. And he has a very strong track record as a recruiter.
In his time as a receivers coach at Kentucky and his seven seasons at USC, Martin has been the primary or secondary recruiter for 11 five-star players and 26 four-star players who ended up signing with his school according to the 247Sports database.
And that’s with Martin not really tapping into places he has natural connections with such as the Atlanta area or the states of Alabama and Tennessee.
Most of Martin’s big-time recruits he’s hauled in have come from California at his time at USC. But he’s also pulled some big names from Georgia and Florida over the years. Martin has connections in Atlanta thanks to him coaching high school football there from 2006-08. He’s from Mobile, Alabama and, of course, has connections to the state of Tennessee from his time playing for the Vols and winning a national title with them.
A lot of Martin’s highly-rated recruits are still enrolled at USC. Players like former five-star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, former four-star receiver Michael Pittman Jr., and former four-star receiver Tyler Vaughns are still catching passes for the Trojans, and former five-star cornerback Iman Marshall and former four-star athlete Greg Johnson are still on USC’s defense.
But several of Martin’s recruits have already gone on to have solid collegiate careers and are now playing professionally. And those are the types of results that Martin can sell to prospects he’s recruiting to Tennessee.
Here’s a look at the most notable players that Martin has recruited who have gone on to have good collegiate careers and are playing professional football now. These only include players he recruited, not players he developed at the wide receiver position over the last nine years.
All rankings are via the 247Sports Composite rankings
Adoree’ Jackson, CB
No. 7 overall, No. 1 CB, five-star
Jim Thorpe Award winner
Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year
Consensus All-American
18th overall pick, 1st round 2017 NFL Draft
JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR
No. 21 overall, No. 3 ATH, five-star
First-Team All-Pac-12
62nd overall pick, 2nd round 2017 NFL Draft
Rasheem Green, DT
No. 21 overall, No. 5 DT, five-star
USA Today Sports All-American
First-Team All-Pac-12
79th overall pick, 3rd round 2018 NFL Draft
Leon McQuay, S
No. 32 overall, No. 4 S, five-star
218th overall pick, 6th round 2017 NFL Draft
Damien Mama, G
No. 38 overall, No. 1 G, four-star
Second-Team All-Pac-12
Undrafted, made NFL practice squads, now with San Diego Fleet in AAF
Steven Mitchell Jr., WR
No. 67 overall, No. 8 WR, four-star
Honorable mention All-Pac-12
Undrafted, on Houston Texans’ roster
Isaac Whitney, WR
No. 33 JUCO overall, No. 5 JUCO WR, three-star
Undrafted, made Houston Texans’ practice squad
