Tee Martin will always be a legend in Knoxville. As the team’s quarterback in 1998, he led the Tennessee Volunteers to a national championship.

Now, he’s back in Knoxville as a member of Jeremy Pruitt’s coaching staff. He’ll coach the Vols’ wide receivers in 2019.

On Tuesday, he met with the media for the first time this spring and described what it’s like being back in Tennessee. He said he’s a completely different person than he was back then:

“It was surreal. There was nervousness there, just because it’s the first time coming back in this role. You’ve got to remember, the last time I lived here and spent every day here, I was 21 years old. And now, you return with four kids, a wife and a dog. You’re a totally different person,” Martin said.

However, he added that it’s easy to recruit for the Vols, as it’s a team that holds a special place in his heart:

“When it finally kind of set in, it was coming in early in the morning, being here late at night, recruiting for the school that you played at and had so many great memories at,” Martin continued. “It kind of hits me at different times when I’m around the building or I’m on the phone with recruits. I’m really selling the place that I played at.

“It’s not just a job for me, it means more to me since I’ve done it here at this place and had the opportunity to come back and get it back to what I know it can be. It’s been a different feeling for me, because I’ve been a lot of places that I’ve liked when I was there coaching, but nothing is like coming back home.”

Martin may end up being a hot coaching candidate in the coming years, so we’ll see how long he lasts in Knoxville this time around, but for now, he seems happy with where he’s at.