'15 FL DE Marques Ford (FORMER UT commit)

[Dust10]

Should be fine unless the Orlando Sentinel picks up story. They'll bring it up every cycle when the Vols land a player that area.


This happens. Happen with Ga and Carver Columbus. FSU and Lakeland HS. Miami and a couple of Dade schools under Shannon. Meyer and Gainesville/First Coach HS.

Unfortunately its part of game. CFB isn't like basketball with early signing period or baseball with splitting scholarships. The numbers always don't work out.

Just realized our Avi's are remarkably similar. Mine's better tho.

 

[HialeahGator]

Tweeted about Rutgers this morning.

They were his early leader until UT offered.

 

[Ultra Plinian]

or a prior commitment to a JUCO (which you only have for 2 years)

That prior commitment just so happens to be a hometown star who has worked his ass off to fulfill a promise. You don't crap on your home base and you certainly don't piss off your local HS coaches.

 

[HilltopperVol89]

Sorry if I'm late to the conversation. It appears to me that Darrell Taylor and Ford had, essentially, the same measurements. Ford however was rated higher. I understand that stars don't necessarily matter. Does Taylor project at OLB or something? This is all very confusing to me ....

 

[nicksjuzunk]

Those looking to see who we get, to justify letting go of Ford are missing the point. It is who we have already GOT. Like it has been said, numbers are tight, and we are strongest this cycle on the DL. When Phillips jumped on board, we had to lose a DL to make room for other more important positions.

It is not a matter of "are the last 2 or 3 guys better than Ford"? We simply need to fill in the other places.

 

[mountainair]

I agree, glad so many on here are calling BS on this. I understand its all in the game but 2 weeks from signing day has gotta hurt.

It's funny how so many are upset over this. Heck there have been several threads guessing about who was going to get the boot. There are others that are committed that will not be on scholarship here. When you have a limit you have a limit and the coaches have to get the 25 that best fit the current need and those needs change throughout the recruiting process. So offers will be made and accepted and then taken away.

I do hate it for any kid that really wanted to be here. But he will be fine wherever he goes and I'm sure his phone is blowing up.

Sad thing is most of the upset people are only upset because they think he will be great. If it wasn't someone they though would do so well they wouldn't be upset they would be happy.

Butch and company are going to fill in our needs and a DE isn't a position of need we already have two on campus from this class. Again there will be one or two more that get the offer pulled before this is done.

 

[KeepinUpWithJones]

Sorry if I'm late to the conversation. It appears to me that Darrell Taylor and Ford had, essentially, the same measurements. Ford however was rated higher. I understand that stars don't necessarily matter. Does Taylor project at OLB or something? This is all very confusing to me ....

Taylor is severely underrated. He's extremely versatile. Most guys on the board are very high on him based off what I have read and after watching his film, I would agree with them. In an ideal world, we have room for both, but that's not the case. RB is a more pressing need, as is OT.

 

[WarMachine]

Less than 24 hours. Kelly is the obvious choice, and possibly Patrick. I think it boils down to A) Phillips was an unexpected surprise and B) if you have to cut somewhere, we seem to have a surplus of DE. They all can't play.

Just watched Camion Patrick's film. He's a beast. I agree, I think Phillip's was the wrench in Ford's scholarship. I hate to see a good player who wants to play for my team get turned away...

 

[livefaith]

I'd ask Perry, Oliver, and even Bruce to look around, before asking Ford to. Dang-it.

Me too. Looks like pure #s here. This kid looked great to me. Anyway, heading out to my day job. Guess I'll trust the guys being paid 6-7 figures to figure this out insteada me.

 

[DeepPurpleFloyd]

What are you talking about? He dominated. He had a sack and a couple TFL in the Simpler Fi game. Know what you speak on before you speak it

That may be true but I recall he got his ass kicked in the More Complex Phi game.

 

[jovi73]

Big mistake on UT part

 

[jkleno]

That prior commitment just so happens to be a hometown star who has worked his ass off to fulfill a promise. You don't crap on your home base and you certainly don't piss off your local HS coaches.

And who are you to say Ford hasn't worked his butt off??? And to be told 2 weeks prior that he is out. And the tweets he threw toward getting other talent to UT. And home base, give me a break- let's compare the talent of East Tenn versus Fla. The coaches you really don't want to piss off are the coaches with the talent. I would rather have 4 years with a 4-star recruit than 2 years with a JUCO. Just saying.

 

[sigchig]

Those looking to see who we get, to justify letting go of Ford are missing the point. It is who we have already GOT. Like it has been said, numbers are tight, and we are strongest this cycle on the DL. When Phillips jumped on board, we had to lose a DL to make room for other more important positions.

It is not a matter of "are the last 2 or 3 guys better than Ford"? We simply need to fill in the other places.

 

[therealitytheory]

Those looking to see who we get, to justify letting go of Ford are missing the point. It is who we have already GOT. Like it has been said, numbers are tight, and we are strongest this cycle on the DL. When Phillips jumped on board, we had to lose a DL to make room for other more important positions.

It is not a matter of "are the last 2 or 3 guys better than Ford"? We simply need to fill in the other places.

Phillips committed a couple of weeks ago, so it seems they could have given Ford the news a lot sooner if they two were directly related.

I'm guessing they just now got a much-sought-after commitment (silent) that made the move necessary. And there are still a bunch of big targets out there...would anybody be surprised if the coaches drop another early commit?

 

[sigchig]

That may be true but I recall he got his ass kicked in the More Complex Phi game.

 

[InVOLuntary]

They were his early leader until UT offered.

Wasn't Florida interested at one time? Maybe I'm thinking about Smith.

 

[dyllisvol42]

making room for Tega imo

 

[Ultra Plinian]

And who are you to say Ford hasn't worked his butt off??? And to be told 2 weeks prior that he is out. And the tweets he threw toward getting other talent to UT. And home base, give me a break- let's compare the talent of East Tenn versus Fla. The coaches you really don't want to piss off are the coaches with the talent. I would rather have 4 years with a 4-star recruit than 2 years with a JUCO. Just saying.

I know who I am and I know I didn't say anything about Ford in my post. I'm sure he has worked his butt off. My point is a local kid who is dominating in JUCO and who previously signed with Tennessee has fulfilled his end of a promise. We've offered. He still has to commit, but I think we'll get him. And I think he'll contribute almost immediately. And when local HS and coaches do have 4-star recruiting talent, you certainly do not want to piss them off. This one just so happened to have been a 4-star when we landed him the first time. We have plenty of DE. I hate we lost Ford. I really do. It sucks. But it's crunch time and we just crunched a bit more.

 

[Montrell Hardy]

I absolutely hate this for Ford.

 

[patrick]

I think UT pulled Ford's offer in order to make a spot for Prince Tega. If Tega commits/signs with the Vols then there is your answer/confirmation. He had a pretty bad leg injury two days ago though.

 

[Montrell Hardy]

He had a pretty bad leg injury two days ago though.

Yeah the last I saw was that it was unlikely he'd be taking any visits over the next week or two.

 

[OGbabyaviVol]

Not happy about this at all. Mistake on our part and bad business imo this late in the game.

Agree to some extent, but we have been left in the cold numerous times on NSD. It happens both ways.

 

[Probably_in_Class]

And who are you to say Ford hasn't worked his butt off??? And to be told 2 weeks prior that he is out. And the tweets he threw toward getting other talent to UT. And home base, give me a break- let's compare the talent of East Tenn versus Fla. The coaches you really don't want to piss off are the coaches with the talent. I would rather have 4 years with a 4-star recruit than 2 years with a JUCO. Just saying.

Grow up. Stuff happens. This is big boy football. Butch is paid to win football games, he doesn't keep his job merely by not hurting any feelings. If this is what the staff feels is best, then that's the direction. Is it poor timing for him? Certainly, but it's not like he doesn't have a ton of other options. He will still get a full ride and play D1 football at a major school. It just won't be UT.

 

[JamesBenUT]

@Marques_Ford
My phone hasn't stopped

 

[engineerVOL]

@Marques_Ford
My phone hasn't stopped

Good to Hear.