I feel the loyal Vols will hang around

#4
#4
It always bothers me when we toss the word "loyal" around when it comes to the transfer portal. If you're telling me Hunter High isn't loyal, then you haven't been watching the past three seasons. If you think Cash Williams should play a second season as the 4th string catcher for the sake of loyalty, then you don't care about what is best for his own career trajectory.

In portal times, it's not about loyalty. I can promise you our program isn't worried about being loyal to players when they tell them to walk, so we shouldn't hold these players to a standard we don't hold our program to.

Not trying to start anything. I just think it's unfair to paint with a broad brush claiming transfers as disloyal.
 
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#5
#5
Loyalty has gone out the window from both sides. But you can say loyalty still applies. You just have to understand your role. I think you can still say, not toward any particular player, but a player who is playing and leaves for more money is not loyal. I think we throw out loyal or unloyal randomly. We have called guys unloyal for doing what they thought they should do and others VFL's for leaving the same reason. Just some didn't make as much sense to us as others. I think a guy who is not playing and leaves can still have been loyal. But I also don't think that every guy who leaves for greener pastures is unloyal.
Some are not playing for their own reasons. They were not willing to do what it takes to be a D1 SEC player. You have to know that some have lived off of true talent or size until they walked into UT. That becomes different there.
But I also do not think the coaches are unloyal by being honest that you won't play where or how much you want to here. They have done a good job in the past of helping them find where they need to be.
Recruiting is trying to judge possibility but that does not always come into fruition and some times with the portal you can get to your best and it still not be better than the guy that is brought in.
 
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#6
#6
ALock4UT said:
It always bothers me when we toss the word "loyal" around when it comes to the transfer portal. If you're telling me Hunter High isn't loyal, then you haven't been watching the past three seasons. If you think Cash Williams should play a second season as the 4th string catcher for the sake of loyalty, then you don't care about what is best for his own career trajectory.

In portal times, it's not about loyalty. I can promise you our program isn't worried about being loyal to players when they tell them to walk, so we shouldn't hold these players to a standard we don't hold our program to.

Not trying to start anything. I just think it's unfair to paint with a broad brush claiming transfers as disloyal.
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This sentence reminds me of the movie "Money Ball"
 
#7
#7
preacherman20 said:
Loyalty has gone out the window from both sides. ( INSERT-- with the level of professionalism the sport has evolved into.) But you can say loyalty still applies. You just have to understand your role. I think you can still say, not toward any particular player, but a player who is playing and leaves for more money is not loyal. I think we throw out loyal or unloyal randomly. We have called guys unloyal for doing what they thought they should do and others VFL's for leaving the same reason. Just some didn't make as much sense to us as others. I think a guy who is not playing and leaves can still have been loyal. But I also don't think that every guy who leaves for greener pastures is unloyal.
Some are not playing for their own reasons. They were not willing to do what it takes to be a D1 SEC player. You have to know that some have lived off of true talent or size until they walked into UT. That becomes different there.
But I also do not think the coaches are unloyal by being honest that you won't play where or how much you want to here. They have done a good job in the past of helping them find where they need to be.
Recruiting is trying to judge possibility but that does not always come into fruition and some times with the portal you can get to your best and it still not be better than the guy that is brought in.
Click to expand...
 
#8
#8
loyalty can only go so far.

There are guys who will transfer who grew up loving everything orange. But they have to transfer. I wish some of those guys would go JUCO or mid major for playing time and development then transfer to UT. They'd get far more playing time and would be able to make their growing pain mistakes outside the lime light.
 
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#9
#9
RumpleVolskin said:
Mostly marginal bench players with exception of Abernathy. Not degrading them by any means. Many couldn't get playing time as buried behind starters as we've seen b4.
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Not true. Not even true at all. Unproven? Yes. There were some extremely high rated freshman prospects like Moore, Williams and Hankins. I think you need to go look at their rankings coming in and rethink your take. It’s a bad one.
 
#10
#10
WaywardVol said:
Not true. Not even true at all. Unproven? Yes. There were some extremely high rated freshman prospects like Moore, Williams and Hankins. I think you need to go look at their rankings coming in and rethink your take. It’s a bad one.
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Ranking doesn't matter it's how you stack up against the other top players when you start fall practice. Good on good no longer the big kid in high school, you got to preform against like talent.
 
#11
#11
volsagain said:
Ranking doesn't matter it's how you stack up against the other top players when you start fall practice. Good on good no longer the big kid in high school, you got to preform against like talent.
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Kavares Tears redshirted. He had zero stats his first year. Hell, Christian Moore barely played as a freshman. The facts are, MOST freshman barley play any, if at all. Guys like Grindlinger are the exception, not the rule. Your post just doesn’t follow the facts.

That doesn’t even get down to tough choices coaches make. In hindsight, if you were coach, would you have started Blaine Brown every regular season game or give others an opportunity? That was a choice and it had implications. I sure as hell wouldn’t have.

If you think Moore, Hankins, and Willams aren’t losses, then you don’t no **** about this game.
 
#12
#12
WaywardVol said:
Not true. Not even true at all. Unproven? Yes. There were some extremely high rated freshman prospects like Moore, Williams and Hankins. I think you need to go look at their rankings coming in and rethink your take. It’s a bad one.
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Read my post slower...didn't get playing time as,most likely, practice may not have merited. I did not speak to ratings when signed. Simply marginal based on their impact on team in the field. Have a lovely day...
 
#15
#15
RumpleVolskin said:
Go back and read Preacherman posts...some not willing to put in the work to SEC ready.
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I totally get that it isn’t easy and work ethic is going to determine a lot. That, howver, isn’t a convenient broad brush by which you can paint every player who leaves or doesn’t work out.

Did Blaine Brown? Or did the staff make promises to him that they were forced to keep (playing him every game) despite the work or lack thereof?
 
#16
#16
Or does the staff see enough potential in a player they are willing to keep him in the lineup despite the current lack of production knowing the upside down the road is worth it?

The insinuation of Brown being entitled and/or lazy is completely baseless. Maybe he's that and he gets ran off but I haven't seen the first thing to insinuate a single ounce of that is true.


We've literally seen this exact movie play out with Blake Burke. He was fat, hard headed, and couldn't read pitches to save his life. Clearly didn't work in the cage. A mid major DH at best. (All things heard at games or read on here). But he kept getting chances, put more work in over a summer, then another season rolled around...
 
#17
#17
WaywardVol said:
Kavares Tears redshirted. He had zero stats his first year. Hell, Christian Moore barely played as a freshman. The facts are, MOST freshman barley play any, if at all. Guys like Grindlinger are the exception, not the rule. Your post just doesn’t follow the facts.

That doesn’t even get down to tough choices coaches make. In hindsight, if you were coach, would you have started Blaine Brown every regular season game or give others an opportunity? That was a choice and it had implications. I sure as hell wouldn’t have.

If you think Moore, Hankins, and Willams aren’t losses, then you don’t no **** about this game.
Click to expand...
Moore , Hankins and Williams are big potential losses they had to have been out preformed during camp . GRINDLINGER would have started day one if not dealing with injury. Cream has to come to the top before you have butter or better that's all the coaches can do take in fall camp and spring and play the best. Brown has potential but would have had to start performing in games or I would have rotated other guys with him to take his spot.
 
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#18
#18
WaywardVol said:
I totally get that it isn’t easy and work ethic is going to determine a lot. That, howver, isn’t a convenient broad brush by which you can paint every player who leaves or doesn’t work out.

Did Blaine Brown? Or did the staff make promises to him that they were forced to keep (playing him every game) despite the work or lack thereof?
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I didn't "broadbrush" the players. Said some were marginal losses by minimal impact they had on team this year by their numbers.
 
#19
#19
volsagain said:
Moore , Hankins and Williams are big potential losses they had to have been out preformed during camp . GRINDLINGER would have started day one if not dealing with injury. Cream has to come to the top before you have butter or better that's all the coaches can do take in fall camp and spring and play the best. Brown has potential but would have had to start performing in games or I would have rotated other guys with him to take his spot.
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Grindlinger likely never starts if not for Stones injury.
 
#21
#21
JMO...but the portal door swings both ways and has changed EVER SINGLE collegiate sport (especially the revenue producing ones). The same day the season ends, the current state demands an instantaneous hard, deep-dive, sincere assessment of the programs position with players in the program. IMO...its not a matter of loyalty ( as much as my spirit enjoys "dwelling in harmony") as its business (not personal). And any coach/program who is not exercising this assessment is committing "coaching irresponsible". Some must go....so other potential better fits may come. JMO...but CLEARLY its the state of collegiate sports in 2026🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️
 
#23
#23
preacherman20 said:
Loyalty has gone out the window from both sides. But you can say loyalty still applies. You just have to understand your role. I think you can still say, not toward any particular player, but a player who is playing and leaves for more money is not loyal. I think we throw out loyal or unloyal randomly. We have called guys unloyal for doing what they thought they should do and others VFL's for leaving the same reason. Just some didn't make as much sense to us as others. I think a guy who is not playing and leaves can still have been loyal. But I also don't think that every guy who leaves for greener pastures is unloyal.
Some are not playing for their own reasons. They were not willing to do what it takes to be a D1 SEC player. You have to know that some have lived off of true talent or size until they walked into UT. That becomes different there.
But I also do not think the coaches are unloyal by being honest that you won't play where or how much you want to here. They have done a good job in the past of helping them find where they need to be.
Recruiting is trying to judge possibility but that does not always come into fruition and some times with the portal you can get to your best and it still not be better than the guy that is brought in.
Click to expand...
Based on what you have stated, I will always be a huge fan of Kyle Booker. It was great to see him coach 1B when the Vols played at Smokies Stadium back in 2025. He left without burning any bridges and seemingly on the best terms possible.
 
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#24
#24
WaywardVol said:
Kavares Tears redshirted. He had zero stats his first year. Hell, Christian Moore barely played as a freshman. The facts are, MOST freshman barley play any, if at all. Guys like Grindlinger are the exception, not the rule. Your post just doesn’t follow the facts.

That doesn’t even get down to tough choices coaches make. In hindsight, if you were coach, would you have started Blaine Brown every regular season game or give others an opportunity? That was a choice and it had implications. I sure as hell wouldn’t have.

If you think Moore, Hankins, and Willams aren’t losses, then you don’t no **** about this game.
Click to expand...
Well of course it's a loss losing some players
Players move on every year
But a lot of our roster gets recruited over every year ... have you seen our incoming class
 
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