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Tennessee’s new assistant coach once got tattoo to win recruiting battle
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Sometimes you have to go all out to win a recruiting battle. That’s something Mike Ekeler knows all about.
If you missed the news, Josh Heupel is expected to finalize his first coaching staff at Tennessee with the hire of Ekeler to serve in the position of special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach on Rocky Top. Ekeler most recently served as the special teams coordinator at North Texas and Kansas. He also has SEC experience as he’s previously worked at Georgia and LSU.
Heupel’s connection to Ekeler goes back a long way as the two were graduate assistants together at Oklahoma back in 2004.
News of Ekeler heading to Tennessee was first reported by Volquest.
For Tennessee fans wondering how they should feel about this addition to the program’s coaching staff, look no further than this comment from Tennessee Titan linebacker, Will Compton.
Compton signed on to play his college football at Nebraska to play for Ekeler before he made his way to the NFL. As Compton points out, Ekeler went the extra mile in his recruitment, including getting a tattoo to seal the deal.
.@Vol_Football is getting a stud ST Coach in @CoachEkelerUNT
Ekeler went full send during my recruitment to Nebraska – putting a tattoo on his body of my name
Absolutely loved him as my LB coach at Nebraska. Congrats to Tennessee ?
— Will Compton (@_willcompton) March 2, 2021
Turns out, Compton was not exaggerating. Ekeler really did get a tattoo to help Nebraska land Compton, who they envisioned would be instrumental in the team’s defensive gameplan.
During an appearance on Hail Varsity Radio: Two-Minute Drill, Ekeler shared the story of getting the tattoo and how that helped Nebraska land Compton.
Check it out below:
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
