I’ve been focused on showing open mindedness. I see the logic but not necessarily the doubt. Coach Williams, Coach Joy, and Coach Harper has recently won recruiting battles. It doesn’t matter if the player was 17, 19, or 21, they were recruited to play for TN and most have sign to join Rocky Top.
Coach Harper has won some big prizes on the recruiting trail and age differences CAN’T negate that fact regardless of how it’s presented.
In the case of recruiting, Tennessee focused in on targets and as a result ended up in the list of multiple players Top 4 or 5 schools. Some have signed elsewhere in the class 22, 23, & 24. The remaining targets based on reports are said to be leaning to other schools.
Here’s my take: I expect TN to sign 3 or 4 HS players from the class of ‘23. I believe two will be highly rated players and the remaining one or two prospects will have offers but not the high 4 or 5 star rankings. I’m okay with that. Look at Brooklyn Miles. She was Miss Kentucky basketball but not ranked by ESPN Hoopgurlz out of HS. Another example is the freshman from DePaul was an all-American and not highly ranked out of HS.
Miles won SEC FR of the Week honors and proved to be one of the best backup PGs in the SEC. I think this season she will be even better and eventually a starter.
TN will also sign at-least 1 highly recruited player out of the transfer portal.
Possibly to fill a need in the front court alongside Hollingshead, Striplin, Puckett and the class ‘23 signee(s). Things are a lot better than they might seem on paper for the future.