“Coach Golesh was basically telling me I had to go and see him, go and meet him, meet all the staff. I was like, ‘You know what? I’m driving to Virginia Tech, and you go through Knoxville to get there,’ so it was like, ‘Might as well stop in and meet the staff.’ It worked out perfectly.”
The 6-foot-6, 315-pound Crocker said he had been to Tennessee “a few times” before, most recently for one of the Vols’ junior days in February 2020 under former coach Jeremy Pruitt’s staff. Crocker said he also went to their home game against Vanderbilt in November 2019, and he has attended “three or four” Tennessee games at Neyland Stadium in all.
He didn’t necessarily see anything new during his latest visit with the Vols. But he said he liked what he heard about the changes Heupel and his staff have made during their first months at Tennessee.
“It was pretty much the same thing, but it was good to meet the whole new staff,” Crocker said. “
Dre Brown, who’s their recruiting coordinator, was telling me how the vibe has changed from the old staff, how they’re playing music at practice now, and everything’s more energetic and happy, and the fast-tempo offense.
“There are more things like that, that build the experience, kind of add more fun back into the program.”
Heupel, Golesh and Vols offensive line coach
Glen Elarbee all spent time with Crocker during the visit. They also got a chance to see him in action during Tennessee State’s Roar City Mega Camp in Nashville, Tenn., a little more than a week later.
Crocker said Heupel, Golesh and Elarbee have been “just telling me how they feel about me” and letting him know they want him to spend more time in Knoxville in the coming months.
“They want me to come back and visit soon, so I’m just trying to work that out between going to other places,” Crocker said. “But it feels pretty exciting.”
After seeing him in action during Tennessee State’s camp, Crocker said Tennessee’s coaches told him that he “moved really well” there and complimented him on “how well I was doing the drills and how well I was bending.”
