Sunrise won't pierce the chilly darkness for another hour, but lights gleam all over the sparkling interior of Tennessee's ultra-modern Ray and Lucy Hand Digital Studio in the final minutes of build-up for national signing day, which on Rocky Top Butch Jones has turned into some kind of de fax-to revival.
The walk up Lake Loudon Avenue past the smokestacks intersects with the arrival of Tennessee's creative genius, Jonathan King, promptly at 6:30. King's the low-profile, omnipresent visionary for virtually every image associated with the Vols' program since Jones' arrival Dec. 7, 2012. Plenty of folks have talked for 26 months regarding Dave Hart's hiring of Jones; a lot more took notice of Hart's plucking King from rival Alabama after King's mock magazine cover last summer featuring eventual Vols signee Shy Tuttle alongside pop icon Beyonce´ turned into a social media phenomenon.
Inside, activity unfolds at a brisk pace throughout the $12 million showpiece that Hart strategically situated, with a "Times Square" motif, directly adjacent to the school's Pat Summitt Plaza. All coaches are on hand; full-time, graduate assistants, interns, quality control and more.
The entire video crew, recruiting office, sports information department and more work to establish what they hope will be a perfect setup for a day that ultimately unfolds with one massive addition to the Vols' top-five haul and no defections of note.
Jones had a busy day of officially welcoming new Vols.
There's plenty of food all over; inside and outside. No one stops to eat much inside; a bite here and there for now. Everyone is moving. Outside, UT has lined up a veritable daylong buffet for its students who come watch the signing day production outside the studio's glass windows. Donuts, burritos, chicken sandwiches. All are distributed during the ensuing six hours. Sometimes even by Jones himself.
The broadcast launches at 7; less than 20 minutes later, four-star offensive lineman Zack Stewart is the first Tennessee signee to ignite the fax machine.
It's a big moment; going on in the heart of the 'War Room,' however, is the action that illustrates the day more than any other: the Vols' coaches, including, Jones, already are working the phone lines with prospects from the 2016 class and beyond. Don Mahoney hands off the ubiquitous cell phone to Jones.
By around 8, every Tennessee coach has been on a phone call with a signee, future prospect or both. There also are three official signees, as both Darrell Taylor and John Kelly formally sign on.
Moments before 9, Venzell Boulware sends in his paperwork. The four-star offensive lineman from Creekside High School (Ga.) had the Vols' coaches on edge as the day unfolded; reigning national champion Ohio State had surged into the frame in the previous 18 hours.
Relationships, like those of Boulware with current Vols Evan and Elliot Berry, as well as former Vol and current quality control staffer Anthony Parker, help Tennessee keep Boulware. Doesn't hurt that five-star defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie was up at 4 a.m. on the West Coast imploring Boulware to stick with the Vols.
Related Links:
Signing Day Rewind
Talk about it in The General's Quarters
And McKenzie little more than an hour later, moments after 10 here and just after 7 a.m. in California, initiates the Vols' biggest power-play of the day.
They're about to launch back-to-back five-star signatures. They're about to see the sideline-stomping, P.T. Barnum-channeling Jones don first a 'bucket hat' for McKenzie and then a bowtie for, of course, Drew Richmond.
The five-star offensive lineman from Memphis is among the program's most significant signing day additions in several years; he's donning an orange, state-logo adorned bowtie at his Memphis University School. So Jones, in return, rocks --- ever so briefly --- a smokey gray bowtie emblazoned with the Vols' 'Power T' logo.
Hart's now on hand and is warmly embraced by the entire coaching staff. He doesn't merely speak to Jones or the Vols' top staffers. He chats with students, support staff and, of course, Jones.
It's their second conversation in the past four-plus hours.
"I called him. I wanted to see how he was doing," Hart says of his 6 a.m. call to Jones, who later tells VolQuest.com he was bedridden Tuesday with a dehydrating, overpowering flu bug. "I had that illness two days before Christmas.
"I called him, No. 1, to say 'Hey, you OK?' And he said, 'Today, I'm running on adrenaline.' And then we talked about what was going to unfold, and hoped we wouldn't have any attrition. That kind of thing."
Thereafter, the day is anticlimactic. Signatures in their various forms roll through with intermittent regularity. Jones continues introducing his 10 midterm enrollees to anyone tuning in with a steady stream of interviews.
Even walk-ons get some time to bask in the moment, with quarterback Zak Jancek, son of Vols' defensive coordinator John Jancek, tight end Eli Wolf, brother of Vols' sophomore tight end Ethan Wolf, and kicker Laszlo Toser among those recognized in the programming with ceremonial bricks and No. 15 jerseys.
After not eating all day Tuesday, Jones grabs a quick bite of salad and pasta shortly after 11. Even that rare moment of calm is beamed across the universe.
The last signature arrives moments after 1 p.m., when punter Tommy Townsend, a U.S. Army All-American Bowl participant last month, sends his document.
Jones conducts a battery of post-broadcast interviews, kept company in between by his wife, Barbara. Their oldest son, Alex, just weeks earlier received his formal admission letter to attend the University of Tennessee.
Promptly at 4, Jones enters the Stokely Family Media Center inside Neyland Stadium for his press conference with more than 50 media on hand. The question-and-answer session spans nearly 35 minutes; barely 90 minutes later, he'll be in downtown Knoxville at the historic Tennessee Theater for the in-town recruiting rally.
When it ends, Jones and the coaches get a scant few hours to celebrate. It's pretty muted.
Less than 10 hours later, they'll have their signing day version of "Groundhog Day." Hart, Jones, the assistants and several other staffers are told to be at Knoxville's airport by 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning; there are day-after-signing-day recruiting celebrations in front of largely sold-out crowds in Memphis and at Nashville's LP Field, where the Vols open their 2015 season against Bowling Green seven months from today, upcoming on the schedule.
Because, of course, all the good revivals last more than a day.
