The 6-foot-5.5, 285-pound Bussell said he learned of his offer from the Vols on May 3 during a FaceTime conversation with Tennessee defensive backs coach
Willie Martinez.
“I was just blown away,” said Bussell, who’s ranked by 247Sports as the No. 23 offensive tackle in the 2023 class and the No. 10 sophomore from the state of Tennessee. “On the call, obviously, it’s hard to keep your emotions intact, so I had to not be — I don’t know what the word is for it, but obviously just keep my emotions in check.
“But after the call, me and my dad, we went kind of crazy because obviously that’s been kind of a dream for me, and it’s come true.”
Bussell said he “didn’t expect anything like that” before his conversation with Martinez more than two weeks ago. He said “a few people” in Tennessee’s program had followed him on Twitter, but the Vols reaching out to him “was very out of the blue” at the time.
“Whenever my head coach asked me if I was good to go on a FaceTime call, I was like, ‘Sure. What’s going on?’” Bussell said. “And he was like, ‘Well, just get ready for a call with Tennessee.’ I was just blown away. It was kind of crazy.
“Putting in the hard work and seeing everything like that, obviously it’s paying off now, so I was thinking it could be a month from now, (or) it could be during the season next year. I really didn’t expect it to be this early.”
It was the third SEC offer for Bussell, who also holds offers from Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Eastern Kentucky. He said the offer from Tennessee was a particularly big deal to him because he and his family have liked the Vols for years.
“It’s my family’s favorite college, and it’s my favorite college,” he said. “It was my favorite college until, obviously, the recruiting thing started picking up. And now I have to be a fan of everybody.
“Growing up, Tennessee, I’ve just always been a big fan, really.”
While he’s keeping an open mind about the growing list of options, he said his connection to Tennessee “most likely” will be a factor in his recruitment.
“I mean, it could be difficult seeing, obviously, home-state (school),” Bussell said. “I’m going to have a lot of people in my ears whenever we get to the end. But I think, if they do something really well in the next two years, and the new coaches, they put in a lot of work and they recruit the right guys and everything goes well, it could be a good relationship me and them (are) building. I think it could factor into the end.”
