'22 AL S Jourdan Thomas (Tennessee signee)

#26
#26
sjt18 said:
Don't care. Jones had highly rated classes. There were some good players but there were also some overrated duds... a disproportionate number compared to other programs. For all the poopooing... Pruitt DID NOT leave an untalented roster overall.

For my purposes... I'm kind of liking some of UT's 3* players... V Jones, Young, Spraggins, Butler, Bumphus, Payton, Charles, Small, T. Jackson, Banks, Page, Slaughter, Beasley, Tillman,....

If you are stupidly waiting on UT to take recruits that are highly rated largely because Bama has targeted them... away from Bama before you are satisfied then you aren't going to be satisfied. If you want the Jones route of paying way too much attention the those star ratings then you'll see UT continue to have too many busts.

There has always been a simple truth on recruiting to turn UT around. The guy who turns UT around will find 5* talent with 3* tags.
Click to expand...

Pruitt’s poor decision-making led to his firing, which led to mass roster attrition. He did fair in terms of recruiting, but underperformed in player development. I 100% agree with your “5* talent with 3* tag” adage. Josh Heupel & staff have a nack for optimizing roster potential. That’s why I’m optimistic.
 
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#28
#28
One of the reasons our recruiting is in the tank now is because of our previous coaching staff's inability to develop players. Look at how many 4 and 5 star talent they wasted. Tainted the program's reputation.

But I would prefer a hungry 3 star to head case 5 star any day. You can't develop kids who think they are bigger than the program and think they know it all. They usually only play for themselves and no one else.

How often have you heard the current players talking about playing for their teammates since Heupel has landed? Refreshing!!!!
 
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#29
#29
onevol74 said:
One of the reasons our recruiting is in the tank now is because of our previous coaching staff's inability to develop players. Look at how many 4 and 5 star talent they wasted. Tainted the program's reputation.

But I would prefer a hungry 3 star to head case 5 star any day. You can't develop kids who think they are bigger than the program and think they know it all. They usually only play for themselves and no one else.

How often have you heard the current players talking about playing for their teammates since Heupel has landed? Refreshing!!!!
Click to expand...

Tenn recruiting is struggling cause Pruitt made all recruiting about him. He destroyed instate ties and basically recruited where he was from. When he left, so did practically all contacts. That was his plan all along. He wasn’t going to leave a strong program here even if he left for Bama. Hiring Pruitt was the stupidest thing Fulmer ever did.
 
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#31
#31
wmcovol said:
Tenn recruiting is struggling cause Pruitt made all recruiting about him. He destroyed instate ties and basically recruited where he was from. When he left, so did practically all contacts. That was his plan all along. He wasn’t going to leave a strong program here even if he left for Bama. Hiring Pruitt was the stupidest thing Fulmer ever did.
Click to expand...

Who’s to say our recruiting is struggling?
 
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#33
#33
wmcovol said:
Majority of top instate players have committed elsewhere. I’ll say it’s maybe a slow start
Click to expand...

My point is, many are assuming that the guys we have committed and the ones with whom we are in good shape aren’t good. Stop. Going. By. Website. Rankings.

I trust this staff to evaluate who is good for their program and systems more than some recruiting website dweeb. Just because many instate recruits who are ranked highly by website dweebs are committed elsewhere, that doesn’t mean the guys who are committed aren’t good.
 
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#34
#34
wmcovol said:
Tenn recruiting is struggling cause Pruitt made all recruiting about him. He destroyed instate ties and basically recruited where he was from. When he left, so did practically all contacts. That was his plan all along. He wasn’t going to leave a strong program here even if he left for Bama. Hiring Pruitt was the stupidest thing Fulmer ever did.
Click to expand...

As usual people want to mitigate their responsibilities for shortcomings. The lack of LOYAL support by the overall UT fanbase during our nuclear winter is a major factor as well. Not only do the weak at heart not only reduce attendance, they quit buying ORANGE stuff, don't wear their ORANGE gear and give the perception of conditional support to kids during their development years. Some even migrate their viewing habits and become fans of other schools by their actions. That has a cost. How many of these players watched their parents and mentors wear hats, apply flags and magnets to their vehicles, actually have gear of their own supplied to them, lived in households that prioritized watching UT games because the were UT games, and got to go to UT games along the way. If you ain't with us you are against us holds true by action and deed.

During my 30 year stint working in the Huntsville AL area I saw lines drawn and allegiances maintained at a high level. A large portion of families and kids had hats and yard signs and did not waiver AS MUCH as our fan base has. Even during the MIKE years unhappy UA fans wore their colors every Friday at work and at HS games. Heck, most babies came home from the hospital in Crimson or Orange and Blue. There were pockets of other loyal fans like myself who did not join in and in fact bore the colors a lot. Kind of famous in Guntersville for being among the loyal ORANGE. There was a decent amount of respect for those that remained true to their colors by the UA and AU faithful. Lots of non SEC folks represented themselves well too. But the lack of overt loyalty to the teams, not the staffs has a cost for sure. It is natural for kids to look for landing spots where the fan base SEEMS united en mass over a place where indifference or worse is rampant. That is where we are and the general perception of the program being on the rise does not trump the years of actions of the perceived fan base overnight. Part of the process. When distance and convenience are not primary factors and in the absence of positive influences in ORANGE in their lives, elite kids will weigh their options.
 
#35
#35
GregAmsler said:
My point is, many are assuming that the guys we have committed and the ones with whom we are in good shape aren’t good. Stop. Going. By. Website. Rankings.

I trust this staff to evaluate who is good for their program and systems more than some recruiting website dweeb. Just because many instate recruits who are ranked highly by website dweebs are committed elsewhere, that doesn’t mean the guys who are committed aren’t good.
Click to expand...

I never said the kids committed weren’t good. I’m very pleased with the potential of those recruited. I think the numbers are alittle low and the instate kids were turned off by the previous coach & have moved on.
 
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#39
#39
wmcovol said:
I never said the kids committed weren’t good. I’m very pleased with the potential of those recruited. I think the numbers are alittle low and the instate kids were turned off by the previous coach & have moved on.
Click to expand...

Of the instate kids we missed, Dallan Hayden is the only one who really bothers me. He’s talented and a legacy. But I think Dylan Sampson is a fantastic RB. I hated missing Ty Simpson at the time, but I’m happy with Tayven Jackson at QB for what Heupel does.
I do hope we flip Kody Jones (I think we will) and wish we could land Barrion Brown (highly doubt it).
 
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#40
#40
GregAmsler said:
My point is, many are assuming that the guys we have committed and the ones with whom we are in good shape aren’t good. Stop. Going. By. Website. Rankings.

I trust this staff to evaluate who is good for their program and systems more than some recruiting website dweeb. Just because many instate recruits who are ranked highly by website dweebs are committed elsewhere, that doesn’t mean the guys who are committed aren’t good.
Click to expand...
How do you factor in the guys our staff have offered and recruited that commit elsewhere. Seems like several recruits we really wanted didn’t want us. We didn’t take the guys we have and tell the others to go away. Appears that some of our commitments may not have been our first choices? Doesn’t mean the ones we get are bad, just we might could have gotten better if recruiting was going great. It’s understandable with all that’s happened since Kiffen left
 
#41
#41
walkenvol said:
How do you factor in the guys our staff have offered and recruited that commit elsewhere. Seems like several recruits we really wanted didn’t want us. We didn’t take the guys we have and tell the others to go away. Appears that some of our commitments may not have been our first choices? Doesn’t mean the ones we get are bad, just we might could have gotten better if recruiting was going great. It’s understandable with all that’s happened since Kiffen left
Click to expand...

Look at the number of offers handed out every year. Most of them go elsewhere. If that were the deciding factor, no one would have a good recruiting class.

The ultimate determination of how well recruiting goes is how good the players you sign turn out. We’ll know that in a few years. I think we’ve got a good group committed right now, with more to come.
 
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#42
#42
GregAmsler said:
Of the instate kids we missed, Dallan Hayden is the only one who really bothers me. He’s talented and a legacy. But I think Dylan Sampson is a fantastic RB. I hated missing Ty Simpson at the time, but I’m happy with Tayven Jackson at QB for what Heupel does.
I do hope we flip Kody Jones (I think we will) and wish we could land Barrion Brown (highly doubt it).
Click to expand...

Simpson will be a bust at Bama
 
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#44
#44
walkenvol said:
How do you factor in the guys our staff have offered and recruited that commit elsewhere. Seems like several recruits we really wanted didn’t want us. We didn’t take the guys we have and tell the others to go away. Appears that some of our commitments may not have been our first choices? Doesn’t mean the ones we get are bad, just we might could have gotten better if recruiting was going great. It’s understandable with all that’s happened since Kiffen left
Click to expand...
There are offers and then there are OFFERS.We give out at least a 150 to 200 offers every year and we sign 20 to 25. Therefore, less than 10 to 20 % of offers are players we really want. The ones we really want changes as their playing seasons advances.
 
#45
#45
sjt18 said:
Don't care. Jones had highly rated classes. There were some good players but there were also some overrated duds... a disproportionate number compared to other programs. For all the poopooing... Pruitt DID NOT leave an untalented roster overall.

For my purposes... I'm kind of liking some of UT's 3* players... V Jones, Young, Spraggins, Butler, Bumphus, Payton, Charles, Small, T. Jackson, Banks, Page, Slaughter, Beasley, Tillman,....

If you are stupidly waiting on UT to take recruits that are highly rated largely because Bama has targeted them... away from Bama before you are satisfied then you aren't going to be satisfied. If you want the Jones route of paying way too much attention the those star ratings then you'll see UT continue to have too many busts.

There has always been a simple truth on recruiting to turn UT around. The guy who turns UT around will find 5* talent with 3* tags.
Click to expand...

Yes he left an untalented roster.
 
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#48
#48
GUNTERSVOL said:
As usual people want to mitigate their responsibilities for shortcomings. The lack of LOYAL support by the overall UT fanbase during our nuclear winter is a major factor as well. Not only do the weak at heart not only reduce attendance, they quit buying ORANGE stuff, don't wear their ORANGE gear and give the perception of conditional support to kids during their development years. Some even migrate their viewing habits and become fans of other schools by their actions. That has a cost. How many of these players watched their parents and mentors wear hats, apply flags and magnets to their vehicles, actually have gear of their own supplied to them, lived in households that prioritized watching UT games because the were UT games, and got to go to UT games along the way. If you ain't with us you are against us holds true by action and deed.

During my 30 year stint working in the Huntsville AL area I saw lines drawn and allegiances maintained at a high level. A large portion of families and kids had hats and yard signs and did not waiver AS MUCH as our fan base has. Even during the MIKE years unhappy UA fans wore their colors every Friday at work and at HS games. Heck, most babies came home from the hospital in Crimson or Orange and Blue. There were pockets of other loyal fans like myself who did not join in and in fact bore the colors a lot. Kind of famous in Guntersville for being among the loyal ORANGE. There was a decent amount of respect for those that remained true to their colors by the UA and AU faithful. Lots of non SEC folks represented themselves well too. But the lack of overt loyalty to the teams, not the staffs has a cost for sure. It is natural for kids to look for landing spots where the fan base SEEMS united en mass over a place where indifference or worse is rampant. That is where we are and the general perception of the program being on the rise does not trump the years of actions of the perceived fan base overnight. Part of the process. When distance and convenience are not primary factors and in the absence of positive influences in ORANGE in their lives, elite kids will weigh their options.
Click to expand...
I’ve not seen this fanbase sway in their loyalty one bit over the last decade plus. What has happened is transplants in the major growth areas have diluted the fan pool. Unfortunately, those diluted areas are the areas of growth in talent as well.
 
#49
#49
sjt18 said:
Heupel has to save space for portal players.
Click to expand...
We do some help from the portal, but need to build our base from recruiting the best high school players. It appears that CJH will have a good, not great class this Fall. It could become better as HS players see the grit and effort our players are giving. I expect a better class each year and we will become competitive for the SEC title. I can see our in the same position we were in the late 1990s and early 2000s within the next 4-5 years. With the portal it could be the next 3-4 years. We have a lot of holes to fill and depth to build, but it will happen.
 
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