MARSALIS TEAGUE – TENNESSEE
It may not seem surprising that Marsalis Teague, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound four-star athlete from Henry County High School in Paris, Tenn., decided to stay in-state and sign with the Tennessee. But considering that about a month before signing day Teague was committed to Florida, the Vols pulled off quite a coup.
“It was a real hectic month,” Teague explained. “I figured once I committed I could relax, but it wasn’t until after my commitment that things got even crazier. I was still open-minded though and the more I talked to other coaches the more I realized that I should at least take some other visits just to be sure.”
How did coach Urban Meyer handle the news that Teague still wanted to look around? “He said that they weren’t taking any other corners and that they would still recruit me hard,” he said. “They came after me like I wasn’t even committed.”
Teague ended up visiting Alabama and Tennessee in January and says that in the end it was really between the Vols and Tide – with the Gators a distant third.
“Alabama was definitely right in there,” he said. “I was seriously thinking about them, too. I felt like I’d be a better fit at either Alabama or Tennessee than Florida. I thought I’d be able to play earlier, too, and make a bigger impact.”
But in the end Tennessee got Teague’s signature.
“When I committed to Florida (in December) I felt like they really wanted me the most,” he said. “They were recruiting me hard the whole time and I had a great relationship with (cornerbacks) coach Vance Bedford. They seemed to have the most to offer me.
“But that’s when Tennessee really turned it on,” he said. “Coach Lane Kiffin said he was going to continue to recruit me. He was respectful, but said that he wasn’t going to stop until I was wearing orange on Signing Day.”
So what made Kiffin’s approach different from that of Urban Meyer and Nick Saban?
“It was just his energy,” he said. “It was at a whole other level. He was a lot more hands-on, too. I was always talking directly to him and he made sure to personally talk to me as much as he could. Even during the trip the energy at Tennessee was better than anywhere else. You could just sense the excitement there.”
That excitement continued through Signing Day as the Vols nabbed several top recruits.
“The fact they signed such a great class definitely helps,” Teague said. “You always talk to guys during the process about how great it would be to play together and the things you could do. There’s always those conversations that go, ‘Man, if you went there and I went there and we got this guy...’ That happens a lot.”
So with whom did Teague have that conversation? “Well, (four-star wide receiver) Nu’Keese Richardson (Scout.com’s No. 6 wide receiver in the country) and I are pretty good friends,” he admitted. “We talked quite a bit, so I pretty much knew he was going to sign with Tennessee, too. That wasn’t a real surprise to me.
“I also had a feeling about (four-star safety) Darren Myles (Scout.com’s No. 8 safety) because the coaches were pretty confident about him,” he said.
But when exactly did Teague himself know he was going to ink with the Vols? “It really wasn’t until the Monday (Feb. 2) before Signing Day,” he said. “I had a great visit to Tennessee (Jan. 23) but didn’t want to make a decision at that point.
“It was a real hard decision,” Teague said. “But my family had really been rooting for Tennessee and I liked the idea of going to help the home team. I think we’re really gonna have something going. It’s gonna be a whole new era at Tennessee.”
In fact, it already is a whole new era at Tennessee as displayed by some of the recent publicity that new head coach Kiffin has been getting. “I really like his style,” he said. “Not everybody does. He’s just a ball of energy and that’s good for Tennessee. He’s a crazy guy, but I like it.”
Although Teague is ranked as the No. 18 cornerback in the country by Scout.com, he says that the Vols also want him at wide receiver. “During my visit, Coach Lane Kiffin said he likes me at slot receiver,” he said. “But his dad, (defensive coordinator) Monte Kiffin, said he wants me for corner so I got a chance to meet with both offensive and defensive coaches.
“Either way they said that they’d get me involved
