UT’s Ja’Wuan JamesKNOXVILLE – Ja’Wuan James could have jumped.
One phone call and one meeting were enough to cancel any flickering thoughts the Tennessee right tackle had of doing so.
The opportunity to leave the Volunteers’ program after his junior season and follow three classmates into the NFL draft was there for James, but the player who’s started all 37 games of his Tennessee career decided to play his senior season under new Vols coach Butch Jones.
“The first day he got here, he called me and he showed that he really wanted to bring Tennessee back and that he really cared,” James said Friday during the Vols’ pre-spring practice media day.
“He talked to the guys who were thinking about leaving, and just sitting down and talking to him, I knew it was genuine, and I liked what he was talking about, how he wanted things to change and how I could really help.