2023 Team Rankings

[LittleVol]

and I made my own. Clemson doesn't have to recruit as well because they don't have to beat one of Alabama/Georgia every year and then win the SECG while also playing an SEC schedule just to make the CFP. Sure Clemson won the natty and I'm not taking anything away from them but the standards have to be different here with how we have to make the CFP

Clemson won those titles because of talent (don't care what the recruiting rankings say), depth, and most importantly STRONG QB play.
- that's how 10-3 LSU team goes 15-0 the next season.
- that's how we went from 3-7 to 17-8 and breaking Bama and UF win streaks.

Clemson absolutely would have won the SEC in those years with Deshaun or Trevor at QB.
There's not subsitution for great QB play.

This is why you throw 8 mil at a Nico Iamaleava....

No we absolutely do not need to recruit in the top 5 every year.
- strong QB play
- deep and talented defense
- fast play makers in open space
- short yardage ability

There are about 4 players ranked above Jalin Hyatt on Bama's roster from recruiting.
Watch what the NFL thinks of that in 4 months.

 

[allvolrecruiting]

Clemson won those titles because of talent (don't care what the recruiting rankings say), depth, and most importantly STRONG QB play.
- that's how 10-3 LSU team goes 15-0 the next season.
- that's how we went from 3-7 to 17-8 and breaking Bama and UF win streaks.

Clemson absolutely would have won the SEC in those years with Deshaun or Trevor at QB.
There's not subsitution for great QB play.

This is why you throw 8 mil at a Nico Iamaleava....

No we absolutely do not need to recruit in the top 5 every year.
- strong QB play
- deep and talented defense
- fast play makers in open space
- short yardage ability

There are about 4 players ranked above Jalin Hyatt on Bama's roster from recruiting.
Watch what the NFL thinks of that in 4 months.

I agree but they've stalled out recruiting at that level. They had the run on QBs with Watson and Lawrence and when that ended, it went to 10-2 seasons and not CFP teams

 

[swchandler1988]

Adding Carter and Bishop would put us at #7 passing Clemson, Miami and Oklahoma, numerical of 278.67

 

[VolFaninFla]

View attachment 518862

@Pepe_Silvia
My intent was to show where the team rankings were heading into Early Signing Day which was coming up soon.
There was no bias, commentary, nor opinion on my part.
I am very pleased with this current coaching staff and trust that they will use recruiting and the portal to put together more seasons like this one.
Did you view the post as being critical of the staffs recruiting? It most definitely was not.

 

[iuvol]

2023 Team Rankings
Vols are ranked #11 in both total points and average stars
Vols-3.61 Average stars 6th in SEC
Nico is ranked 4th overall. 3rd ranked QB after Arch Manning & Dante Moore

Nico is ranked 2 by ON3, 247 and Rivals, ESPN ranks him at 32 which keeps him from being the consensus 2. Just wonder how they came to the conclusion he is the 32nd player in the nation vs what the others say.

 

[NighthawkVol]

They won their first in 2016.

Recruiting rankings leading up to NC:

2012 - 20
2013 - 14
2014 - 15
2015 - 9
2016 - 11

Where’s the stacking of elite classes pre-2016 you speak of?

2nd NC in 2018….

2017 - 16
2018 - 7

Exactly. And this notion that they only won because they came out of the ACC misses the point. They had elite SEC talent. They destroyed Bama. They destroyed Ohio State. They wouldn’t have dominated the SEC like they did the ACC, but they wouldn’t still won some championships.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Nico is ranked 2 by ON3, 247 and Rivals, ESPN ranks him at 32 which keeps him from being the consensus 2. Just wonder how they came to the conclusion he is the 32nd player in the nation vs what the others say.

Nico is the best QB prospect in this class. The fact he isn’t ranked as such shows how ridiculous recruiting rankings are. The 2nd best QB in this class is Malachi Nelson, then Dante Moore. I’m torn between Vizzna and Manning at #4.

 

[TrippieRedd]

1. Nico
2. Moore/Nelson
3. Arnold
4. Manning (should be ranked lower for playing against middle school teams)

 

[DaddyChad]

Considering we ranked that high with Dooley and Jones and Pruitt, no, it’s not.

Addressed all major positions of need, deep defensive class in particular, elite qb, elite Dline class as well. Ranking may be the same but it’s far and away better than Dooley’s classes. Butch on the other hand brought in great talent just sucked at developing them. Butch bare minimum should’ve won the SEC East with Dobbs.

Still think this is the chicken versus the egg argument. Show great coaching long enough and Tennessee will bring in elite talent. We’ve just been bad for so long and good for such a short window. Jmo though.

 

[allvolrecruiting]

People sleep on Arnold. I think he has a ton of potential while everyone just focuses on Manning/Nico/Nelson/Moore

 

[Pepe_Silvia]

@Pepe_Silvia
My intent was to show where the team rankings were heading into Early Signing Day which was coming up soon.
There was no bias, commentary, nor opinion on my part.
I am very pleased with this current coaching staff and trust that they will use recruiting and the portal to put together more seasons like this one.
Did you view the post as being critical of the staffs recruiting? It most definitely was not.

Nah. I was drunk and felt like sharing a Columbo gif.

 

[volbeast33]

seemingly recruiting at TN's level and developing those offensive players and finding success on the field with a "novel" offense is something that CJH has proven can be done at a very high level in the SEC.

the question I have is has there been a "novel" defensive scheme that has changed the game the way CJH's offense has done?

besides Monte Kiffin's Tampa 2 defense, have there been any new concepts that have proven difficult for an offense to be successful against?

3-3-5 was at first but teams have adapted to that but it’s not Heup’s offense… he has taken Art Briles offense and run it more efficiently with better wrinkles than anyone else does..The zone blitz scheme is another example of defensive innovation but it’s much easier to be successful on offense than defense.

 

[Vol8188]

3-3-5 was at first but teams have adapted to that but it’s not Heup’s offense… he has taken Art Briles offense and run it more efficiently and better wrinkles than anyone else does..The zone blitz scheme is another example of defensive innovation but it’s much easier to be successful on offense than defense.

Agreed. All the rules favor offense. So to be elite defensively it seems you need superior talent.

 

[85SugarVol]

Nobody's suggesting recruiting doesn't matter. But evaluating a team's success in doing so isn't based solely on star rankings.

Case in point:

TCU Horned Frogs.

Last 4 years recruiting ranking per Rivals:

60th
63rd
24th
29th

Yet TCU going to the playoffs.

Would TCU be able to replicate their success with an SEC schedule?

 

[85SugarVol]

#11 class in the country is not going to hold back this program.
#11 class in the country is not where this program wants to be.

Both can be true.

 

[HalfullVol]

Would TCU be able to replicate their success with an SEC schedule?

TCU vs UT schedule game simulator, anyone?

 

[LittleVol]

People sleep on Arnold. I think he has a ton of potential while everyone just focuses on Manning/Nico/Nelson/Moore

Nelson is the weakest of them imo.

 

[LittleVol]

I personally have this class as a top 5 class.
Nico
Hobbs
Seldon are all 5 stars imo

Weathersby
Leacock
Carter
Slaughter are all top 100 players imo.

This is a really strong class.

 

[Vol8188]

I personally have this class as a top 5 class.
Nico
Hobbs
Seldon are all 5 stars imo

Weathersby
Leacock
Carter
Slaughter are all top 100 players imo.

This is a really strong class.

You’ve not even watched enough of 100 players to make such a claim. At this point you either have the most insane ego any of us have ever encountered or you’re just trolling

 

[Vol8188]

#11 class in the country is not going to hold back this program.
#11 class in the country is not where this program wants to be.

Both can be true.

I think we can agree rankings matter without proclaiming 11 is bad. Especially since we have elite guys at key positions such a QBs. That is a drawback to some ranking services is that they don’t all include positional value.

 

[85SugarVol]

I think we can agree rankings matter without proclaiming 11 is bad. Especially since we have elite guys at key positions such a QBs. That is a drawback to some ranking services is that they don’t all include positional value.

I didn’t say 11 is bad.

Didn’t Heup just say the other day that recruiting was “only going to get better”? Or something to that effect?

That would imply he believes Tennessee is capable of more than 11. I bet DW feels similarly.

 

[Vol8188]

I didn’t say 11 is bad.

Didn’t Heup just say the other day that recruiting was “only going to get better”? Or something to that effect?

That would imply he believes Tennessee is capable of more than 11. I bet DW feels similarly.

I didn’t see anything about him saying it wouldn’t get better. But every coach tries to sell their class as being “the guys who we wanted” and being better than ranked. A lot of times it’s just that, salesmanship.

This is a solid class. Especially defensively. And landing an elite QB is the most important piece. But recruiting does need to improve slightly and should over time given our success.

 

[sjt18]

#11 class in the country is not going to hold back this program.
#11 class in the country is not where this program wants to be.

Both can be true.

Both can also be very, very false.

If the staff is really good at evaluating talent and projecting development and future success... meaning that Telander, Smith, Lang, et al are actually 4* talents with 3* ratings then this type of class is EXACTLY where this program wants to be. A program that wins on game day regardless of what it looks like on NSD.

 

[MiramarVol]

That's not what Im saying and that's not what he is bitching about. He is crying because our recruiting class is ranked 11th. He says we won't catch up to our rivals, but we beat Bama, LSU, and FL. He also said we should recruit well enough to beat USCjr, didn't Clemson lose this last weekend to them as well, AND their roster is better (rankings wise).

Idk about you or anyone else here, but I've been miserable for the last 10+ years. Yes we all bitch and complain, but this dude is crying for LITERALLY no reason

And to drive home your point, we beat UF, LSU, and Bama with our mediocre, average, recruiting classes.

 

[RAVOL]

Elite Talent is what wins championships. Let's take Clemson 2 Nattys they had elite talent on the field particularly QB the most important position. Now did they have the amount of elite talent as Bama no the didn't but did have enough. GA Bama OH St sign more elite talent each year which in turn they are always in running for Playoffs. Now to Tennessee. This class has Elite talent in it actually more than most. 1. QB Nico best in Country enough said. 2. OT Sham has elite Tackle abilities. 3 TE Davis stretches field for his position. 4. WR Leathcock beast. 5. Selden elite playmaker. Defense 1. Hobbs DTDE explosive big man with all the traits to be big time 2. Dito for Weathersby DT DE. 3. Bradley 5 star talent first step lethal. 4. Matthew's 5. Gibson. Both can flip hips and can really run with ball skills. Carter, Herring, Smith , Slaughter Tealander. This Tennessee class is very Strong. Remember outside of the top 150 type players the next 300+ all look the same it all comes down to who evaluates the best. Love the thread. Peace. In CHRIST Alone