2 questions about what this recruiting class means

#26
#26
1. no
2. Some point this year

JMHO; CBJ is a master motivator, he is not selling these recruits on playing time, or telling them come play for me, we are loaded and will win a NC. He is intimate with the traditions and history of high quality football programs that is associated with Tennessee’s past. I believe it was in one of the SEC media day videos, he was speaking about the tradition and history and he said; How great would it be to have your name associated with bringing that winning tradition back to Tennessee. You could hear the passion in his voice, I believe this is what he is selling and therefore I think he keeps most if not all of the current commits no matter if the team struggles this season or not. If #117 exceeds expectations I believe we get at least one 5* commit late.
 
#27
#27
VFLCodyGBO said:
First, does this class punctuate how big of a failure Dooley actually was/is? (As if we didn't already know)

Also, when do you believe the real turning point will be; the time that we can look on the field and see that the dark days have passed?
Click to expand...
A lot of recruits realized that:

1) Dooley had a losing record as a HC coming into this job and had done nothing his first season or two to change that trend.

2) Dooley was on the hot seat and most of his staff gave a vote of no confidence by leaving on their own volition. Not a good sign...to either players or recruits.

With this in mind, the only thing Dooley had to sell was the stadium and facilities. Even Kiffin came in here with a dismal record as a HC...had to rely on his dad's name to sell recruits.

Butch, on the other hand, has a record of championships/winning to sell recruits, as well as having the new athletic facilities and stadium upgrades (over the past few years). He's also a good salesman. Getting Thigpen in here is proving to have been a golden decision.

Granted, I had Gary Patterson listed as my No.2 choice when Dooley got fired, but in hindsight, I think CBJ shares a lot of similarities with Patterson and is probably a better motivator and salesman.
 
#29
#29
LWSVOL said:
I think we have to be top 3 in SEC to get back to competitive status in this conference. Once we get on Bama, LSU, Florida and Georgia level, agree minimum top 5 SEC to maintain competitive position
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're probably right. What I was trying to say is that top 5 in the SEC puts you in a position to favorably COMPETE against the elite teams. Meaning that on a given Saturday we'd have a "puncher's chance" against the Bama's, Floridas, Georgias, etc. Top 3 gets you in that position where going into those games you KNOW you have the talent and the depth to win. Kind of the way we were in the mid 90's to early 2000's.
 
#30
#30
It's a long way until signing day. This was on Rivals regarding the potential final rankings:

NO. 1 - [TM]TENNESSEE[/TM] - 21 COMMITS, 2,140 POINTS, 3.38 AVERAGE
What Mike Farrell says: "This has been just an amazing job by Butch Jones and his staff to sell Tennessee as a viable SEC-contender. The hope for Vol fans would be that they close out strong and finish inside the Top 10. With a 3.4 average ranking I think that it is possible, too."

What the numbers say: Extrapolating the data points for this class, Tennessee has nowhere to go but down as the season moves on. If no team from outside of the current configuration of the Top 25 makes a major move, the Vols should be able to finish in the No. 10 spot. The numbers say that if the program does not add any more valuable commits and closes with just the 2,095 points that is currently has that would figure for a No. 14 finish. The math also indicates that at least eight teams from outside the Top 25 will make a run as the recruiting period closes. Therefore, it would not be a shock to see Tennessee at No. 14, even if it adds another four-star or two.


With that said, are the fans going to be disappointed on NSD if UT finishes in the 10-14 range with the inflated expectations in the middle of Summer? Personally, it doesn't really matter in my book. No title has ever been won on NSD. It's like a NASCAR race, just because you're on the pole doesn't mean you're going to win. There's a long race ahead and a lot things will happen along the way to the finish line.
 
#31
#31
VFLCodyGBO said:
First, does this class punctuate how big of a failure Dooley actually was/is? (As if we didn't already know)

Also, when do you believe the real turning point will be; the time that we can look on the field and see that the dark days have passed?
Click to expand...



The real turning point will be when we upset someone. South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Oregon, etc.
 
#32
#32
D5.gif
 
#33
#33
Boca Vol said:
. No title has ever been won on NSD..
Click to expand...

Strongly disagree with this. In order to win battles in September through December, you have to win the battle in February. Every team that has won a BCS title has had top 1-3 classes. Top 10-14 recruiting nationally means you're probably around 8th in the SEC which just does not put you in a position to win. Sure, you'll win 8 or 9 games per year and go to a decent bowl but your'e not going to be playing for SEC and national championships.
 
#34
#34
Vol4life25 said:
For the failures of Dooley as a coach, recruiting wasn't one of them. One year he even had a top 10 class. I'm not defending Dooley just stating a fact. I don't get why you guys act like he couldn't recruit.
Click to expand...

Kiffin was an even better recruiter that helped Dooley a lot with that class. You're seeing the reflections of Dooleys failures with BJ's and others comments about the lack of playmakers( talent ).
 
#36
#36
Brave Volunteer said:
Strongly disagree with this. In order to win battles in September through December, you have to win the battle in February. Every team that has won a BCS title has had top 1-3 classes. Top 10-14 recruiting nationally means you're probably around 8th in the SEC which just does not put you in a position to win. Sure, you'll win 8 or 9 games per year and go to a decent bowl but your'e not going to be playing for SEC and national championships.
Click to expand...

So, if Dooley had landed a #1 class, do you honestly think he would have had UT competing for a national title? Interesting.
 
#37
#37
if we go 7-5 this season and this class ends up in the top 5 is the turning point to me. this means beating all of the teams we should beat and one upset. considering the last 5 years, i would consider that to be a highly successful season
 
#38
#38
Brave Volunteer said:
Strongly disagree with this. In order to win battles in September through December, you have to win the battle in February. Every team that has won a BCS title has had top 1-3 classes. Top 10-14 recruiting nationally means you're probably around 8th in the SEC which just does not put you in a position to win. Sure, you'll win 8 or 9 games per year and go to a decent bowl but your'e not going to be playing for SEC and national championships.
Click to expand...

Boca Vol said:
So, if Dooley had landed a #1 class, do you honestly think he would have had UT competing for a national title? Interesting.
Click to expand...

Sorry to quote myself. I promise, I'm not that narcissisitc but I thought of a better example. How good do you expect Ole Miss to be in the next couple of years after their recent recruiting success?
 
#39
#39
zreeves said:
if we go 7-5 this season and this class ends up in the top 5 is the turning point to me. this means beating all of the teams we should beat and one upset. considering the last 5 years, i would consider that to be a highly successful season
Click to expand...

precisely this
 
#41
#41
Boca Vol said:
So, if Dooley had landed a #1 class, do you honestly think he would have had UT competing for a national title? Interesting.
Click to expand...

Not one #1 class. But if he landed 5 in a row, then even the Dools could not be counted out. IMO the ability of a staff to recruit cannot be understated. Anything could happen with that kind of talent.
 
#42
#42
Brave Volunteer said:
Strongly disagree with this. In order to win battles in September through December, you have to win the battle in February. Every team that has won a BCS title has had top 1-3 classes. Top 10-14 recruiting nationally means you're probably around 8th in the SEC which just does not put you in a position to win. Sure, you'll win 8 or 9 games per year and go to a decent bowl but your'e not going to be playing for SEC and national championships.
Click to expand...

Well we aren't winning 8-9 games a year if you haven't noticed. We are a sub .500 team. Now if what you are saying is true, (which I believe that it isn't FWIW) we should have been winning 8-9 games every year during our recent 10-14 classes correct?

Recruiting is a vital role in determining the strength of a team, but it is not the only thing, for this year and possibly next we will have to overachieve to win games.

Overachieve: "winning games that we aren't supposed to win on paper"

This my friend comes with great coaching on the field, not recruiting. We have to get these kids that are mostly 2-4 stars to go out there and hand some of these 5-star kids their a$$e$.

We will find out then if CBJ is truly going to be the one to turn this program around. (I believe that he is/will).
 
#43
#43
volleyvol said:
Personally, I don't think Dooley was the recruiting failure some people think he was. After all, his classes were all ranked in the top 20 (iirc). I am, however, amazed at how much talent this staff has gotten commits from given what we've gone through the last 3 seasons.



I think we'll get glimpses of that this season. I think we'll see some guys step up and think to ourselves, "Where has that guy been the past 2 or 3 seasons?" If you're talking about seeing a championship-level team on the field, that probably won't happen until 2015 or 2016. As good as the 2014 class is looking, my guess is that most of them won't make an immediate impact.

Here's to a bright future!

Go Vols!
Click to expand...

Dooley's recruiting classes looked decent on paper on each NSD. However, he lost a lot of players from those 3 classes who never contributed to the program. A lot of that goes to poor player development but in the end evaluation of his classes, they look much worse in hindsight.

Also, this last recruiting class wasn't going too well before Butch salvaged what he could... Butch got 12 of the 21 players signed in less than 2 months work.... Dooley had all of 9 players lined up.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top