KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Jake Breske talks about ice fishing every chance he gets. 

The University of Tennessee football director of player personnel specializes in recruiting for the Volunteers, and oftentimes his home state of South Dakota gets mentioned.

That includes ice fishing, a popular winter activity in South Dakota and what Breske calls “by far my favorite relaxing thing to do.”

“I probably talk about ice fishing at least once or twice a week,” Breske said. “People are just amazed by that. So ice fishing comes up more often than not, especially to recruits because it’s something that is new to them.”

At the University of Tennessee, the Webster native has helped reel in some big fish in the college football recruiting pool. Breske assists the Volunteers coaching staff with evaluation of student-athletes, and is involved in multiple recruiting aspects of the program.

He played a key role in helping the Volunteers secure a top-15 recruiting class just months on the job in December 2021, and has helped Tennessee ink three consecutive top-15 classes since joining the staff. 

Breske said he takes a huge amount of pride in building strong recruiting classes. But rankings aside, it’s about finding the right student-athletes that fit Tennessee. 

“I take a lot of pride in the people that we bring in,” Breske, 38, said. “Rankings, they are great to look at, but ultimately we are going to believe in the guys that we have here. Because we did the research on the film evaluation, the character background, the competitive mindset and we believe that they can help us.”

The formula is working. The Volunteers, under the direction of Aberdeen native Josh Heupel, are currently ranked No. 11 in FBS. Under Heupel’s guidance, they’ve reached the program’s first New Year’s Six berth in the College Football Playoff era and back-to-back top-20 poll finishes.

The Volunteers play their home games at Neyland Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 101,915 and is the sixth largest among college football venues. Tennessee recently outlasted SEC rival Florida, 23-17, on Oct. 12 in overtime and Breske called it one of the best atmospheres since he’s been at Tennessee. 

“I consider us to have the best fanbase in the country because they are passionate,” Breske said. “This place bleeds orange. This state bleeds orange. It is a generational calling for a lot of people down here.”

Tennessee competes in the ultra-competitive Southeastern Conference, where college football is king and the 16-team league goes by the motto “It Just Means More”.

“It does mean more in this conference,” Breske said. “It is the best of the best and each Saturday you enjoy it, you appreciate it. But also just knowing people are coming after you every day. So you have to go to work ready to be the best.”

That’s been his mindset since joining the revered SEC. Breske began his SEC career as the director of recruiting for Missouri from 2018-21, where he helped the Class of 2021 tie for the highest finish in school history at No. 21 nationally by Rivals.com.

Breske reunited with Heupel in the spring of 2021 as the two worked together at Missouri from 2016-17. Breske enters his fourth season as a member of Heupel’s UT staff.

Jake Breske, left, and Leon Breske, right, pose for a picture at the Orange Bowl in Miami. (Courtesy photo)

It was their South Dakota roots that helped Breske land a job on Heupel’s staff. Their fathers — Leon Breske and Ken Heupel — coached together in the 1980s. Jake’s oldest brother, Nate, played quarterback for Ken Heupel at Northern State University. 

Jake Breske was a college quarterback at the University of South Dakota, where he began his coaching career with a two-year stint as a graduate assistant coach. 

Breske, who was then coaching at NAIA Valley City State University in North Dakota, worked camps with Ken Heupel in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. 

That’s when his relationship with Josh began to build and Breske later inquired about any positions on the Missouri staff.

“It’s something you dream about working at the highest level and there was a recruiting assistant spot, which then I jumped on and worked for three years and then was promoted to the director of recruiting at the University of Missouri,” Breske said. 

Josh Heupel was named the 27th head coach at Tennessee on Jan. 27, 2021, and Breske said “I got the Tennessee job about four days after coach Heupel was hired here.”

The Breske and Heupel names are synonymous with football in northeast South Dakota. Ken Heupel was a long-time head football coach at Northern State University, while Josh Heupel starred at Aberdeen Central before quarterbacking Oklahoma to the 2001 national championship. 

Leon Breske was a high school coach for 33 years at Stanley County and Webster. He is a member of the South Dakota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. All three of Leon’s sons played college football — Nate as a quarterback at NSU, Jake as a quarterback at USD and Matt as a linebacker at Augustana. Nate currently serves as the head athletic trainer for the Buffalo Bills.

Jake Breske said his South Dakota values learned from parents Leon and Cathy have helped him along his professional career. 

“We had a great foundation, great support, and they taught us to go chase our dreams, even if that meant leaving the state,” Breske said. “The South Dakota work ethic and how we were raised and the community we had I think gives you an opportunity to continue to climb up in this profession.”

Breske isn’t sure what the future holds, and is “a big believer in be where your feet are,” but he’s content representing and recruiting Volunteers. 

“I believe wholeheartedly in coach Heupel, and what he stands for,” Breske said. “I am going to be here with him for as long as the good Lord allows me to be. After that I will figure it out. But right now I am just focusing on — it’s coach speak — one game at a time and I couldn’t be happier here in Tennessee.”

And the next game just happens to be against Alabama, which is coached by Milbank native Kalen DeBoer. Heupel and DeBoer both ascended up the coaching ladder with multiple stops before landing premier SEC jobs. 

“It’s just a true credit to coach Heupel and coach DeBoer,” Breske said. “They each took their own journey to get here. But I think it’s an awesome, awesome thing for the state of South Dakota.”

The programs with South Dakota connections will face off Oct. 19 in Knoxville, as No. 7 Alabama plays at No. 11 Tennessee in a highly-anticipated SEC contest. 

Breske joked that “hopefully there’s more orange in South Dakota than red this Saturday,” and he knows that Neyland Stadium will be juiced up for the game. 

“I am excited and hope for a great outcome,” he said. “I know the experience and the electricity in the stadium will be second to none.”