[Waving white flag] I surrender!! The Geneva convention also gives me the right to make one final statement before my execution at dawn. Here it is:
It is not transfer madness. It is now an integral part of the recruiting game, just as one and done is for the men's side. Kellie's incoming class for this season was Pissott, Jackson, Powell, Hollingshead, and Franklin. Admittedly, all but Jackson have not had the anticipated impact (to this point) but that group generated a lot of preseason excitement. And they all count as "recruits" and that is not sparse and should not be a source of concern. We can add all SEC freshman Puckett to the mix as well from the previous season and Wynn still has time to develop.
We won't know what Kellie's incoming class for next season will look like until the transfer portal closes. Recruiting through the portal does not make a program unstable. If you keep more than you lose, you are ahead of the game and, so far, Tennessee has been doing fine on retention under Kellie.
lol, hold on, keep that flag waving, and I'll wave an orange one and we can take them to games. No executions today. I got a little feisty with those replies. I think we view the portal's value and impact in different lights, but I will meet you in the middle. It's a tool that can be used to keep a roster competitive, and transfers today are not the same situation as transfers of a decade ago (well, except for Marciniak, that one was the best transfer ever).
And the portal did save Tennessee's bacon this year, no doubt. I just it's not a good sign if we're living there too often or too much. I think there's value to having players with years of experience in your system and your program, value in consistency and familiarity, which is harder to maintain if the portal is where you're living. I think that's where this all started, someone threw a little shade at people being "negative," and I just think - eh, I mean, there's reason to be concerned. I don't view that as hating Tennessee, at least, not to me. I want them to succeed. Win the SEC, beat UConn - succeed. So I hope they figure things out with recruiting targets. With South Carolina doing that weird "birdy" stuff on the reg, and Mulkey sharpening her claws in Baton Rouge, it would be nice to see Tennessee win some of those heavyweight recruiting fights upfront.
Regardless, if I really did sound like the sky is falling - hey, it's not. This year is set. Jackson and Horston are a real pair. Seeing the team against LSU and UConn is gonna be
interesting. But there are some clouds on the horizon, and I hope the sun breaks through soon. And the sun will say "WHERE DO YOU WANT THESE TOP FIVE RECRUITS" and I'll say "OVER THERE, SUN" and the sun will say "ON TOP OF THE ARENA?" and I'll say "NO, AT THE FRONT DOORS ARE FINE." That's all in caps because we'd both be shouting; the sun is very far away.