Article Shed’s Light on Recruiting Classes

#2
#2
vegasvolfan said:
Tennessee’s 1995 class, which featured “Black Monday” (the Vols lost a half-dozen great prospects, mostly on defense, in matter of hours) is the winningest-class in Vol history.

VolQuest.com - The truth? Pruitt must overcome challenges to retool Tennessee's roster
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I remember "Black Monday." Anthony Mitchell and Ernie Badeaux were two that chose elsewhere (Florida I think) that day. Neither one if I recall ever made an impact. Tennessee signed a little recruited player named Billy Ratliff as a replacement and he had the better career.
 
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#4
#4
vegasvolfan said:
Tennessee’s 1995 class, which featured “Black Monday” (the Vols lost a half-dozen great prospects, mostly on defense, in matter of hours) is the winningest-class in Vol history.

VolQuest.com - The truth? Pruitt must overcome challenges to retool Tennessee's roster
Click to expand...

that is very skewed as that class also got to pair with the 1994 class and the 1997 class, both had tons of NFL guys. So the 1995 class helped but should not get ALL the credit for being the winningest class in VOL history.
 
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#5
#5
Bottom line, this staff is going to need a lot of years to recruit out of the hole we're in. Probably more years that we're willing to sit by and abide getting our tails kicked in while being told that this or that imperceptible component got a little better than the year before hence we have to stay the course for stability's sake. We should probably go ahead and start working the back channels now so we don't get caught flat footed again.
 
#6
#6
VolunteerHillbilly said:
Bottom line, this staff is going to need a lot of years to recruit out of the hole we're in. Probably more years that we're willing to sit by and abide getting our tails kicked in while being told that this or that imperceptible component got a little better than the year before hence we have to stay the course for stability's sake. We should probably go ahead and start working the back channels now so we don't get caught flat footed again.
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Aside from that list line, probably pretty accurate.
 
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#8
#8
piratelifeforme said:
that is very skewed as that class also got to pair with the 1994 class and the 1997 class, both had tons of NFL guys. So the 1995 class helped but should not get ALL the credit for being the winningest class in VOL history.
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Agreed. Good points. In fact I just realized we haven’t had a top 10 recruiting class since 2015. So, definitely apples and oranges I didn’t realize, but two points.

One)is if we recruit consecutive top 15 recruiting classes and coach better than the coaches 16-and beyond we should be at worst top 15 which I will gladly start with next year.

Two) Oranges are still involved. So, how bout them apples!?! Go Vols!!!!
 
#9
#9
At the end of the day, it’s going to come down to developing players and coaching them up. Recruiting is only part of the battle. If our team performed as well as the recruiting classes we’ve had, we’d be in good shape. Recruiting, as a whole, hasn’t been the problem the last 10 years. The teams we’re losing to consistently right now don’t recruit near our level (Vandy, Mizzou, SCarolina). Oklahoma hasn’t had a top 5 recruiting class since 2005 but they know what they’re doing and they have a system that works. We live in the recruiting forum, so we focus there, but recruiting in itself isn’t going to fix things. If it did, Butch would still be here. Gotta develop players and leaders who will set the way. Winning is a culture and having leaders who BELIEVE they’re going to win is the next obstacle for this program, in my opinion.
 
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#10
#10
VFL92 said:
At the end of the day, it’s going to come down to developing players and coaching them up. Recruiting is only part of the battle. If our team performed as well as the recruiting classes we’ve had, we’d be in good shape. Recruiting, as a whole, hasn’t been the problem the last 10 years. The teams we’re losing to consistently right now don’t recruit near our level (Vandy, Mizzou, SCarolina). Oklahoma hasn’t had a top 5 recruiting class since 2005 but they know what they’re doing and they have a system that works. We live in the recruiting forum, so we focus there, but recruiting in itself isn’t going to fix things. If it did, Butch would still be here. Gotta develop players and leaders who will set the way. Winning is a culture and having leaders who BELIEVE they’re going to win is the next obstacle for this program, in my opinion.
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Many good points but Butch got recruits on next years credit and sheer numbers. Pruitt goes after quality, but we're having to settle for less quality than we'd like. Still it is progression.
 
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#11
#11
AaronUT said:
Many good points but Butch got recruits on next years credit and sheer numbers. Pruitt goes after quality, but we're having to settle for less quality than we'd like. Still it is progression.
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I agree with you, in principle. But that’s easy to say about Butch in hindsight. Nobody was on this board at the time saying Butch was recruiting sheer numbers. He brought in some highly recruited players, including the #5 class after going 5-7.

My point is, Butch had enough talent to get it done. Pruitt is getting enough talent to get it done. Hopefully he can take the next step in terms of developing talent and it translating on the field.
 
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