Tennessee coach Butch Jones has doubled down on his own definitions of success. After his claim that the 2016 Tennessee football team won the "championship of life" this season, Jones has continued to stress his own rating system in other ways.
According to 247Sports' Wes Rucker, Butch Jones has referenced "five-star heart" three different times since the start of National Signing Day.
"We've spoken about the competitive nature, and I think that's really, really big in today's world," Jones said Thursday afternoon, via 247. "Everyone gets into the whole two-star, three-star, four-star, five-star thing. The only five-star that we even concern ourselves with is a five-star heart.
"We want five-star hearts and five-star competitors."
The Vols do have one five-star in the 2017 class: offensive tackle Trey Smith, currently enrolled in school and available to play in spring practice. The rest of the group ranked No. 17 nationally, all committed to being life champions again in 2017.
"We've talked about winning championships," Jones said in November. "They're a champion. They've won the biggest championship, and that's the championship of life."
Since Tennessee was predicted to win the SEC East and compete for the SEC championship, Jones received plenty of feedback on his assessment of the team. It didn't go over quite as well as he had hoped, but Jones, ever the motivator, is going all-in on this new worldview and now has a class full of five-star hearts.
