closing the talent gap

[hog88]

The talent gap will be closed when we spend the money to close it.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

To say never is crazy, you obviously don't remember the Mark Richt era where UGA was "close" for years but did not have the talent we did. We use to have more talent than most.
UF use to have more talent than anyone in the SEC. Bama SUCKED during the Shula "year" and following. What goes up, comes down.

Maybe never is a stretch but as long as Kirby is there, I just don’t see it.

 

[CommandingVol]

Ohio isn’t that great of a recruiting state. Most of their players are from out of state. They just spent WAY more than everybody else this year.

Ohio has about the 5th most NFL players and considering they’re the only big time program in the state, they have a built in advantage. The money they spent was mostly on keeping players they recruited and developed. They only have 3-4 guys that transferred in this year who actually play for them. Oregon had a lot more incoming transfers.

 

[Volfan1000]

When will this happen? If not during Nico's time here, then when? I am concerned that we won't have the players to get into the top 4 of the CFP.

LSU, Auburn, and Florida are all a bit down right now, so it is the time to strike. Heup has showed he can win with inferior talent, but our recruiting classes are still fringe top 10.

what say you VN?

Maybe the George Macintyre era.

 

[Orange931]

Ohio has about the 5th most NFL players and considering they’re the only big time program in the state, they have a built in advantage. The money they spent was mostly on keeping players they recruited and developed. They only have 3-4 guys that transferred in this year who actually play for them. Oregon had a lot more incoming transfers.

I’ve already gotten replies on this. I’ve been out of the loop.

 

[fossilfiction]

Next year has the vibe it could be rough but as long as we have Heupel and Co., we have a shot.

Who knows. We will know what the team looks like closter to the fall.

 

[LWSVOL]

When will this happen? If not during Nico's time here, then when? I am concerned that we won't have the players to get into the top 4 of the CFP.

LSU, Auburn, and Florida are all a bit down right now, so it is the time to strike. Heup has showed he can win with inferior talent, but our recruiting classes are still fringe top 10.

what say you VN?

gonna take quite a while to get to top 4 in the CFP from a talent standpoint. Gotta recruit top 5 classes for 3 or 4 years to match up. and retain them. Those teams are very selective with the portal and only take elite type players but their core roster is from recruiting top 5 classes.

 

[savannahfan]

They are 6th for d1 scholarships, 7th for NFL talent

Not sure Exactly what the definition of "great" is, but they are certainly up there and don't compete with anyone for their talent . Kids born in Ohio almost all want to play for OSU.

Along those lines - - Kida mostly west of Cookeville want to play,,, anywhere other than Knoxville. Now there are exceptions, but for the most part, UT is just another place.

 

[easttnbuck]

Along those lines - - Kida mostly west of Cookeville want to play,,, anywhere other than Knoxville. Now there are exceptions, but for the most part, UT is just another place.

I don't disagree with that. UTennessee doesn't have a monopoly on this state at all l. A quick walk around Chattanooga will prove this out where Georgia and Gump fans are as plentiful as Vol. And the sad fact is, Chattanooga provides a lot of talent to the sec

 

[DaddyChad]

Texas also had the advantage of seeing what Ohio State did vs. Tennessee and Oregon, particularly in the first half of those games. They fundamentally decided that "we will not put our cornerbacks in a position to surrender the deep pass." Keep everything underneath and make them move the ball methodically instead of surrendering points in bunches. Most notably, Jeremiah Smith had 13 receptions for 290 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first two playoff games. Against Tejas, he had exactly one catch for 3 yards.

Texas has the talent at DB to do that as well. Our safety talent this year wasn’t that impressive

 

[easttnbuck]

Texas has the talent at DB to do that as well. Our safety talent this year wasn’t that impressive

Knowing how to stop them is part of the solution.

Having the players capable is a whole different issue

Notre dame plays a lot of man coverage, and this hasn't worked well for anyone else yet Texas.played all zone mostly,.so did Michigan.

 

[utVolFanInVA]

We're still under scholarship restrictions for 2 years.
Yes, NIL should level that out some, but you still need spots to recruit players.

I don't feel that our 1st string talent is that far off from the others mentioned. It's when you get to that 2nd man in the position things drop off drastically.

We are only down 2-3 scholarships for 2025 season. Do you think those 2-3 positions make that big a difference in our 2nd team? Sounds like a red herring.

 

[FlyFishnVol]

When will this happen? If not during Nico's time here, then when? I am concerned that we won't have the players to get into the top 4 of the CFP.

LSU, Auburn, and Florida are all a bit down right now, so it is the time to strike. Heup has showed he can win with inferior talent, but our recruiting classes are still fringe top 10.

what say you VN?

I am concerned about the backend of our defense, why is there such a big talent gap compared to other positions?

 

[Boston Vol]

This is exactly what Saban meant when he said the hardest thing in the sport is going from good to great. Honestly it shouldn’t be that hard for a program like Tennessee to go from bad to mediocre or from mediocre to good. UT has distinct advantages over programs that are in those categories. Going from good to great is difficult because you’re now in rarefied air, competing against the best programs in the country, some of which have advantages over you as a program.

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

Along those lines - - Kida mostly west of Cookeville want to play,,, anywhere other than Knoxville. Now there are exceptions, but for the most part, UT is just another place.

Relative location is not the factor it used to be. In this cable/streaming world where every game is on TV and ESPN, not local market TV is influencing young guys starting when they learn how to use a remote.

Even in the earlier days UT did not get the chummy coverage at home, the TV guys were on board but UT was saddled with John Adams as the lead journalist (using that term loosely). Nashville even with Vandy there was fair, could not address Chattanooga,

My years in the Fayetteville, Huntsville area showed that Giles, Lincoln, and even the home of Majors and Fulmer, Franklin county were immersed in Bama crap from Huntsville TV cause the other areas were horrible Antenna reception. The two Uber successful coaches at Lincoln County High, back in the long gone glory days were quality Bama guys, but Bama guys, crossing the boarder to get a second retirement, Way too much Bama and AU legacy fans still displaying flags and stickers.

OSU has a state monopoly, but they can mine the rest of the populous region, sharing only with PSU and Michigan. Down here the big winners are GA, TX, and FL plus Bama with its national stature. Who up there REALLY COMPARES to LSU, UT, AU, Clemson, FSU, OK, trailed by SC, Ole Miss, and TAM? MSU? ND does have that national mystic like Bama. Who else?

So after home and regional bases there are plenty of location neutral guys for all to fight for.

Oh well go get them.

 

[easttnbuck]

Relative location is not the factor it used to be. In this cable/streaming world where every game is on TV and ESPN, not local market TV is influencing young guys starting when they learn how to use a remote.

Even in the earlier days UT did not get the chummy coverage at home, the TV guys were on board but UT was saddled with John Adams as the lead journalist (using that term loosely). Nashville even with Vandy there was fair, could not address Chattanooga,

My years in the Fayetteville, Huntsville area showed that Giles, Lincoln, and even the home of Majors and Fulmer, Franklin county were immersed in Bama crap from Huntsville TV cause the other areas were horrible Antenna reception. The two Uber successful coaches at Lincoln County High, back in the long gone glory days were quality Bama guys, but Bama guys, crossing the boarder to get a second retirement, Way too much Bama and AU legacy fans still displaying flags and stickers.

OSU has a state monopoly, but they can mine the rest of the populous region, sharing only with PSU and Michigan. Down here the big winners are GA, TX, and FL plus Bama with its national stature. Who up there REALLY COMPARES to LSU, UT, AU, Clemson, FSU, OK, trailed by SC, Ole Miss, and TAM? MSU? ND does have that national mystic like Bama. Who else?

So after home and regional bases there are plenty of location neutral guys for all to fight for.

Oh well go get them.

Notre damn recruits hard in the same area.as big10 also, but OSU and Michigan raid Texas and Florida on the regular of 4/5 star talent and OSU hits California and Georgia also

 

[volbound1700]

Who knows. We will know what the team looks like closter to the fall.

True but we still have major road issues and we have more difficult road games next year...

 

[sgtwebb1]

We aren’t close to UGA, OSU and TX. And honestly I doubt we ever will be. Why? The only real way we can close the talent gap with those teams is for those teams to take a massive plunge in recruiting. And does anyone see that happening?

IF UT made the 'final 4' this year in the CFP, I think we'd have seen a greater number of higher caliber 4 & 5 star players coming in the portal.
Let's face it, 3 of the top 4 in this year's CFP didn't get there by accident.

They flat out outspent UT, & it showed up in the playoffs.

 

[Zues1]

Remember when the Auburn fans couldn't wait for Bo Nix to be gone?
Boy we're they wrong.
Sometimes you just have to be patient.

 

[xpsyclonex2002]

Its all about the money. Do we have enough NIL money to buy a championship team? short term answer is "no". long term answer depends on if we can find more money. It really is that simple.

 

[Volheaven50]

Gonna be extremely hard to "close the gap" as ESPN noted that the shifting of CF power seems to be swinging North and that's due to the "rich" schools with money to burn being north of the Mason-Dixon line. We're starting to see it now with Michigan winning the NC last year and this year's NC winner coming from OSU-ND with 3 of the final 4 this year being Northern teams (PSU also in there)

 

[hUTch2002]

We need to have a 2019 LSU kind of setup to run it all to the title (i.e. a Quarterback that plays out of their mind in big games like Hooker did against 2022 Alabama). Nico is a decent QB but not Joe Burrow or Hendon Hooker (at least not yet).

As someone stated in this thread, we don't have the talent, nor will we, to match them every year. Georgia would have to fall off. Alabama has started to fall off.

EDIT: The thing is Heupel got us back to relevant. Kind of crazy to expand just a run to a National Title at this juncture.

To be fair, Joe Burrow wasn’t remotely the same player prior to that one year at LSU and there weren’t signs of him having a year like that either, it just all came together that year.

 

[dirtyearlee5]

Still not convinced as the rest of you on Nicl. He has to win" the job this year, not be given it.

All jobs should be won every year

 

[dirtyearlee5]

What if Nico sucks… what if this is all a waste.
So two nights ago I went through the last 20 recruiting classes.
Heup can’t recruit.. and Tennessee always recruits
It’s like really bad. We always have the same convo. We need to have quality depth. We won’t be good until that is achieved

Number 1 QB in 26 but can't recruit? Nico was 1 or 2 but can't recruit? U kidding me?

 

[RockyTopTexas]

Number 1 QB in 26 but can't recruit? Nico was 1 or 2 but can't recruit? U kidding me?

Tennessee always recruits my man. Go look at butch