30 Days 30 Vols: Jeremiah Telander on his first offer, a commitment night promise and why he’s never looked back

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - We’re counting down the days to kickoff with one of WVLT Sports’ yearly traditions: 30 Days 30 Vols.

As we get closer to Tennessee taking the field again, Ted Hall sat down with Jeremiah Telander.

Ted: Talk to your parents right before the Ohio State game. We talked about that a little while ago. And I can tell how important you and your career are to them. Tell me how important your family is to you.

Jeremiah Telander: Yeah, my family is everything to me. Since birth, they’ve been nothing but great to me and my sister. They really instilled discipline and hard work in me from a young age, especially my dad. He had me long snapping when I was like six years old, just in case I didn’t pan out to be the best athlete. He tells a story how he got me in a linebacker stance as soon as I was born. He loves to tell that dang story. And yeah, they’re my why. You know, my mom and my dad, they’re why I do everything and work so hard.

Ted: You ended up being an athlete though, right? I mean, you had track success even, didn’t you?

Jeremiah Telander: Yes, sir. Really high jump was my best event. Ended up high jumping six foot four, placed third in state. Don’t really know how I did it. Didn’t really even have a coach for it. I just went up there and jumped a couple times and I was pretty good at it.

Ted: Kind of makes me mad. Tell me why you chose Tennessee. And I imagine through the years you’ve had to kind of re-choose Tennessee with the transfer portal and stuff. Why Tennessee?

Jeremiah Telander: Yeah, so Tennessee was my very first collegiate offer going into my junior year. Had no offers. You know, the future’s kind of unknown. Knew I wanted to play football. Was planning to come to a Tennessee football camp. Came up, stayed downtown Gay Street. Me and my dad walked around Gay Street and went and ate at Woodruff’s. And then we get a call here and they’re like, Hey, Jeremiah, we actually want you to visit the facility before the camp. Visit the facility. And then I had a heck of a camp. And then I got the pull over to the side. Hey, we’re going to meet up in Coach Heifel’s office with you. And, you know, you’re kind of just scratching your head. Like, what is that going to be? And then ended up giving me the first offer. And, you know, the very first offer is something you’ll never forget. So I’m calling all my friends and my family. And it was awesome. And then throughout the recruiting process, I just realized, wow, like, God really put Tennessee on my heart. Whether that’s the coaches, the fans, the teammates. And then just Knoxville really tops it all off. And I remember the night that I committed, I’m looking out my hotel window and I’m just like, I’m going to bleed orange. And I made that promise to myself and to my family. And I haven’t looked back since.

Ted: Outside of football, favorite things to do? Besides soccer talk?

Jeremiah Telander: A day on the lake. Whether that’s wake surfing or just hanging out on the boat. One of my buddies got a boat down here. And right on the Tennessee River, wake surfing outside of Neyland. I think there’s nothing better than that.

Ted: Expectations this year. How good is the D going to be?

Jeremiah Telander: We’re going to have an extremely successful season. You know, that’s the standard that Coach Heupel and Coach Knowles set. Coach Knowles coming in. He’s been successful everywhere he goes. So right now it’s learning the defense like the back of my hand. And we expect to have a successful season. We’re going to have some good linebackers again this year.

Ted: Yeah, dang right.

Jeremiah Telander: We got a great room. And I like to say, when you have four vets in the room, myself, Arion, Amari, and Edwin, and you combine that with a bunch of young talent, man, you don’t know what’s going to happen, man. And we’re so excited. And that fires me up every single day.

Ted: Well, you’re firing me up. Good job.

Jeremiah Telander: Yes, sir. Good job. Yes, sir.