Legacy recruit Dillon Bates talks with the media in the football team room on July 18.
The six players that make up the legacy class for the Tennessee football team had a unique upbringing compared to their fellow 2014 freshmen. Unlike the rest of this year's signing class, these players were raised by parents who already knew what it meant to be a Vol.
But instead of forcing the orange and white into their children's lives, the parents of the legacy players elected to allow their sons to choose their own path and go where their hearts led them.
On Friday, July 18, the legacy players were made available to the media, an unprecedented move by UT athletics. All six players preached the same message: their former Vol parents never urged them to sign with Tennessee.
"My dad never pressured me into anything with Tennessee football," freshman linebacker Dillon Bates said of his father, Tennessee legend Bill Bates. "He did a great job of giving me a chance to look around and explore my options to make my own decision."
Bates recognized early on how important a resource his dad would be for him. Bill Bates wasn't just a father to Dillon; he was a mentor.
"Talking to my dad was the greatest resource I could pretty much ask for," Bates said. "Talking to him every day has helped me understand the game, and it's been a great help having him for advice for my game and my maturity."
Even though Bill never pressured Dillon into committing to the Vols, the younger Bates was aware of the rare situation beginning to form in Knoxville.
He started to notice "about halfway through the recruiting process" that a number of players who had family ties to Tennessee were coming back to play where their fathers, mothers or other relatives had played.
Although Vol fans may have elevated expectations for Bates and his fellow legacy players, he insists he and his new teammates don't feel any added pressure.
"Really there's not a lot of pressure," he said. "It's more about everybody knowing what they have to do, knowing that they have to go every day and go as hard as we can."
The legacy class as a whole is already forming bonds, and they are embracing the "family" culture head coach Butch Jones has preached to his entire team. Bates said that a lot of the freshman players "stick together and all push each other," and they all hold each other accountable in practices and off the field as well.
When asked about what he expects to do in his first season with the Vols, Bates didn't speculate on earning a starting spot or winning any accolades as a freshman.
"It's more about what I can do to help the team and be the best teammate I can be," he said.
Fellow linebacker and All-American A.J. Johnson is excited for what is to come from Bates this season and seeing him perform in training camp.
"If you ask him what to call, he is going to shoo the call out with ease," Johnson said of his new teammate. "We've been in the film room and we've been doing drills as linebackers. I'm ready for him to get the pads on. He works real hard and he runs well. When he gets the pads on he's going to show it all off."
Although Bates and his fellow legacy players have a link to Tennessee's storied history, they refuse to look back at the most recent past in terms of the Vols' performance. Instead of focusing on the four consecutive losing seasons the Vols have suffered, Bates and his teammates focus on the present.
"It's about taking it one day at a time, not looking at the past and past seasons," Bates said. "It's all about looking at what we can do right now to bring us back to where we're supposed to be."
