The elite, SEC-based staff that Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt is putting together may soon be paying dividends.

Running backs coach Robert Gillespie and new assistant Terry Fair — a former Tennessee defensive back — have already been out on the road recruiting.

And those guys may be opening some doors that were previously shut tight.

On Friday, a pair of prospects posted photos on Twitter of their respective in-home visits with the UT recruiting tandem.

Highly-rated, 4-star wide receiver Jacob Copeland was one of the players Gillespie and Fair visited.

Copeland is rated as the nation’s No. 9 overall receiver and is the 10th-best prospect in the state of Florida, according to the 247Sports Composite.

Mississippi State commit Marcus Murphy is one of the other prospects UT visited on Friday.

Murphy is a borderline 3-star/4-star running back/athlete. The 247Sports Composite has him listed as the No. 29 athlete in the country.

With some impressive recruiters on staff, it will be interesting to see what kind of recruiting haul the Vols end up with for the class of 2018.