“He talked to me back-to-back days after he got the job,” James said of Heupel, who was introduced Jan. 27 as the Vols’ coach after spending the past three seasons at UCF. “He’s stayed in touch since then. I’ve talked to him about five, six times since he got the job.”
The 5-foot-10, 205-pound James, who plays with a handful of Tennessee’s other top in-state targets on the Tennessee Select 7-on-7 team, said Heupel has told him the “same thing he tells everybody else” about the importance of the Vols getting the top in-state players — particularly in the state’s talent-filled 2022 class — to stay home.
“He’s trying to keep the in-state people in-state, and (Heupel said) that I’m kind of the anchor to this 2022 recruiting class in Tennessee, so it’s important to get me,” said James, who’s ranked by 247Sports as the No. 122 overall prospect and No. 8 running back in the 2022 class and the No. 3 junior from Tennessee.
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