Tennessee hires away UNC operations staffer for personnel department

North Carolina general manager Billy High is headed back to his alma mater to join the recruiting staff at Tennessee. Pete Thamel of ESPN first reported the news on Saturday.

High was an assistant athletic director for the Tar Heels and recruiting evaluations, operations and on-campus recruiting fell under his portfolio. He has been in Chapel Hill since 2019, and he has also spent time at Auburn and Eastern Kentucky at the collegiate level.

His new role in Knoxville will be similar, but he does not yet have a formal title. He will deal with personnel and the ever-changing transfer portal for Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, who has been very active in the portal in his first year on the job. Additionally, High’s brother, Charlie, currently serves as the offensive scouting coordinator for the Vols.

High graduated from Tennessee in 2012 and went back for a master’s degree in 2015. While he was an undergraduate student in Knoxville, High was a recruiting intern in 2009. He is a Knoxville native, so this is a homecoming in several ways for the staffer.

Volunteers look to build on a much-improved 2021 season

Heupel exceeded expectations in his first year at Tennessee, finishing the season 7-6 with a controversial loss to Purdue in the Music City Bowl.

If nothing else, Tennessee was exciting to watch this year. It started with a high-powered offense led by quarterback Hendon Hooker. The Virginia Tech transfer finished the year leading the SEC in passer rating, and he totaled 2,945 yards, 31 touchdowns and three interceptions. He ran the ball often, totaling 620 yards and five scores on the ground, but he averaged just 3.7 yards per carry. Hooker plans to return to Tennessee in 2022.

In total, Tennessee did very well offensively, finishing with the No. 3 total offense in the SEC only behind offensive juggernauts Ole Miss and Alabama. But it wasn’t all Hooker. The Vols averaged 217.8 yards per game on the ground, which was second in the conference.

Looking ahead to the fall, Tennessee’s non-conference games next season are Ball State, Pittsburgh, Akron and UT-Martin. The first three happen to open the year, while the UT-Martin game is Oct. 22. They have a very difficult stretch starting in late September, as they host Florida, travel to LSU and host Alabama in three consecutive weeks.

Tennessee opens with the Cardinals Labor Day Weekend in Knoxville, and Vols fans will surely have high expectations for Heupel’s second campaign.