Austin Peay’s Will Healy (middle) and Tennessee Tech’s Marcus Satterfield (left), both in their first year as head coach at their respective programs, talk with other coaches at the second annual Titans Recruiting Fair at Nissan Stadium Tuesday.
Tennessee Tech’s Marcus Satterfield and Austin Peay’s Will Healy are entering their first year as head coaches at their respective universities, but Tuesday they had the opportunity to recruit across the entire state.
Satterfield and Healy represented two of 55 colleges from 14 states present at Nissan Stadium Tuesday for the Tennessee Titans second annual High School Football Recruiting Fair. They had the chance meet with coaches from 108 Tennessee high schools.
“It’s a good deal for the colleges involved because it’s kind of like a one-stop shop,” Siegel football coach and Tennessee Football Coaches Association board member Greg Wyant said. “It’s like going to the mall; everybody’s in one place right here.”
The event is a win-win for high school and college coaches alike.
For FCS schools such as Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech and Furman, the event allows smaller colleges to recruit almost an entire state in one day.
“It allows you to make sure you talk to everybody and you don’t leave any stone unturned,” Healy said. “To be able to go from station to station and to be able to talk to coaches and watch film, we’ve seen a couple different guys that we probably wouldn’t have been on.”
“It’s tough in a day to try and get eight or nine schools,” Satterfield added. “Here, we’re able to get 100-120 schools in four hours and get all the information we need, so it’s definitely an advantage for the FCS and below.
And while colleges benefit from mass recruiting, high school coaches enjoy the chance to showcase players they believe may have been under-recruited.
“A lot of attention is given to guys that are going to go (Division I), they’re pretty easy to spot on film,” Oakland coach Kevin Creasy said. “So there’s a lot of hidden gems that guys are going to find today that are going to be not only good for the student athlete, but good for the colleges that are here.”
“I have some guys that really fall into that category,” East Nashville coach Brian Waite added. “This is huge for us to see so many schools in one place at one time.”
The 108 high school programs in attendance Tuesday is up from the 80 that attended last year.
“It aligns perfectly with our organization’s mission of supporting education and supporting high school football, so it’s a natural fit,” Tennessee Titans Youth Football Coordinator Josh Corey said.
Reach Sam Brown at 615-259-8232 and on Twitter @SamBrownTN.