Can new running backs coach Jerry Mack keep Tennessee football recruiting Memphis successfully?

Josh Heupel called Jerry Mack a couple of weeks before the Tennessee football coach hired him  to be his running backs coach in early February.

Mack had never worked with Heupel, but the Rice offensive coordinator checked a couple of key boxes for Heupel. 

Mack has a strong offensive background and great connections in recruiting across the southeast, especially in the key recruiting ground of Memphis.

“It’s always been a hotbed,” Mack said. “There’s always several players that are Power Five football players, SEC football players from that part of the country and this state. It’s really important for me to get back over in that area and build those relationships and continue to develop those relationships.”

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Mack, 40, graduated from Memphis Whitehaven, which produced four Tennessee signees in the past three classes. He also was the Memphis wide receivers coach in 2011.

The Memphis area features two of the top five prospects in Tennessee for the 2022 class. Defensive tackle Walter Nolen, the No. 2 prospect nationally in the 247Sports Composite, plays at St. Benedict in Cordova. Running back Dallan Hayden, the son of former Vols running back Aaron Hayden, is a standout at Christian Brothers.

“I have strong ties (to Memphis),” Mack said. “My parents still stay in that area. I have aunties and uncles that all stay in that part of the country. So really, getting a chance to get back there and reform and rekindle some past relationships and keep building on the relationships that I already built (is) going to be really big for me in recruiting.”

Tennessee recruited well in Memphis under Jeremy Pruitt. Tennessee fired Pruitt for cause on Jan. 18, citing an investigation that revealed sweeping recruiting violations within the football program. 

The Vols signed nine recruits from Memphis from 2018-20. Running back Eric Gray (Lausanne) was the most notable contributor from the group. He rushed for 1,311 yards in two seasons before transferring to Oklahoma.

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Tennessee signed five Memphis recruits in the 2020 class, including three defensive prospects from Whitehaven in defensive back Tamarion McDonald and linebackers Bryson Eason and Martavius French. The Vols also signed running back Jabari Small and defensive tackle Omari Thomas from Briarcrest Christian. Thomas was the No. 91 prospect for the 2020 class. 

UT snagged linebacker Jeremy Banks and offensive lineman Jerome Carvin from Cordova in 2018. It signed Gray and Whitehaven offensive lineman Melvin McBride in 2019.

The Vols hadn’t signed any recruits from Memphis in 2016 or 2017 under former coach Butch Jones, an outcome that Mack and the Vols would like to avoid.

“I’m at that age now,” Mack said, “where a lot of my former classmates, or a lot of people that I knew growing up in the city of Memphis, they all have children, or children right now that are going into their senior year of high school, or they’re going to be graduating from high school here in the next couple of years.”

Mack was Rice’s offensive coordinator for the past three seasons after a four-year run as the coach of North Carolina Central. He went 31-15 during his time at the FCS program. 

Mack, who played at Jackson State and Arkansas State, also coached at South Alabama. 

He said it was “a strange situation” when Heupel initially called him, but soon realized it actually was an ideal pairing.

“(I have) great ties to the state (in) recruiting, and not only just the state recruiting, also just the southeast and part of the United States recruiting,” Mack said. “That’s where a lot of my connections and a lot of my relationships are built, so I think it was just a perfect fit.”

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.