JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Perhaps it was just a declaration of brash bravado in the heat of the moment after a big win.
Or maybe Butch Jones just knows more good things are on the way for Tennessee.
Either way, the coach sounded confident about what may be in store for the Volunteers exactly one month until national signing day, the most important date of college football's offseason, for the 2015 recruiting class.
"We'll have time to self-reflect here once we get back," Jones said after Tennessee beat Iowa 45-28 in the TaxSlayer Bowl on Friday to notch the program's first winning season since 2009.
"Now we have to go assemble a top-three, top-four recruiting class -- which we will -- because we're building and we have something special and great people."
The momentum continued Saturday for Tennessee with another top target committing.
During the U.S. Army All-American Bowl at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Saturday, the Vols landed a commitment from four-star defensive end Kyle Phillips out of Nashville's Hillsboro High School.
The 6-foot-3, 250-pounder, who had more than 20 tackles for loss and 13 sacks for Hillsboro this season, picked Tennessee over LSU and Ole Miss. He had hats for those three programs on the table before telling his younger brother to "pick up that orange hat."
Phillips, whose offer list also included Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Florida State, Auburn, Florida and Stanford, among others, is ranked the third-best player in Tennessee by Rivals.com and 247Sports.com, which has him the No. 107 overall player in the 2015 class.
"I loved (Tennessee) since I went there," Phillips said on NBC's broadcast of the annual all-star game for top high school talent. "It's a perfect fit for my family and me. I feel at home at Tennessee. I love it and my family loves it."
Phillips played at Hillsboro with Tennessee athlete commitment Vincent Perry, and he likely had two of the Vols' top-rated commitments -- five-star defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie and four-star linebacker Darrin Kirkland -- in his ear last week during the practices for the game.
The Vols had five commitments -- offensive lineman Jack Jones, defensive tackle Shy Tuttle, cornerback Micah Abernathy and defensive ends Andrew Butcher and Marques Ford -- in the Under Armour All-American Game played Friday afternoon while Tennessee was beating Iowa.
With signing day a month away, Tennessee's 27-player class -- eight to 10 players are expected to enroll for the spring semester this week -- ranks fifth nationally according to Rivals and third in the country per 247Sports.
Tennessee is aiming to finish with a top-five recruiting class for a second consecutive year.
"We still have a long way to go," Jones said Friday when asked about the Vols' progress. "I said this is the most challenging year I've had in coaching, but the most rewarding year in coaching. We have great character in our football program.
"We still, though, have a long way to go, but we're making progress."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.