05_never_again
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I'm not saying I know more than than anonymous coach. I obviously have no idea who this person is, but if he is a football coach at any level, then I guarantee you he knows more than me. I just think his opinion is kind of half-assed, lazy, didn't require much thought, and was made by someone who didn't really follow the team all that closely.
Having tons of offers from big time schools is absolutely the same as being seriously recruited. You think that all of those schools I mentioned offered this kid just for the hell of it, or they offered him thinking he didn't really have a good chance to be a great player? You really think Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida, FSU, Ohio St, etc. offered Richmond because they wanted O-line depth? You do that when you offer 2 and 3-star kids scholarships who are lightly recruited by other schools, not to a kid like Richmond. Schools can only offer so many scholarships, and the SEC is the most competitive conference. All the big SEC schools wanted this kid. One or two coaching staffs could be wrong in an assessment of a player, but more than a dozen? Including coaching staffs that have won national championships recently? You think that each and every big name school that wanted him was incorrect in their assessment of his ability?
Khalil McKenzie...here we are again talking about a kid who could have gone anywhere in the country, from great bloodlines, was the 6th player nationally, 2nd DT in the country, and 2nd overall recruit in the state of California. You really think he would have underachieved no matter where he went? It seems entirely possible to me that if K-Mac went to Alabama or LSU, he'd have been an All-American and a 1st round draft pick. He has all the physical ability to do so.
Malone and Hurd didn't play like 5-stars in college because they were square pegs in round holes. Butch ran an offense that wasn't designed to make use of their talents, and he either 1) refused to tweak the offense or 2) recruit really talented guys that did fit his offense. Actually, the fact Butch was able to convince those two guys to come to Tennessee actually shows how good of a salesman he was, because the skills Hurd and Malone brought to the table didn't even really fit in the offense he was running. The only point you make that I might agree with is that Hurd was overrated; perhaps scouts were wowed too much by the size, because he does lack the speed and elusiveness that is basically required in today's game.
Your argument only has merit if these guys that busted weren't highly recruited by our competitors. But if you aren't highly recruited, then you kind of can't be considered a "bust" to begin with.
Just admit it - it's OK to say even though he was a bad overall head coach - Butch Jones was very successful at convincing a large number of really talented high school players to come to Tennessee. It's just a fact, honestly one that makes his time at Tennessee look even worse than it was in hindsight. It'd be one thing if he achieved these results with modestly-talented players. He achieved these results with pretty talented guys, or at least with guys that everybody else in the country also wanted.
If guys are soft, immature, or undisciplined, then it's the responsibility of a coaching staff to 1) not recruit those types of players or 2) build toughness, maturity, and discipline into them. I totally agree that players need to be held accountable too, but when you consistently see players across all positions not living up to potential, I begin to wonder about the coaching staff at that point.
