Did anyone really expect Butch Jones to recruit this well for Tennessee?

#102
#102
Butch has proven to have a whole other gear in recruiting but the near perfect timing of some top shelf legacies like kmac was like a shot of nitrous.
 
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#103
#103
I knew he would be good because he has recruited better than the coaches before him at any place (recruited better than Kelly at Cinci) and he had Thig coming on to the staff. So I figured he would be much better than Dooley but I had no idea he would be this good. IDK that anyone can say honestly that they expected this kind of success this soon with what Butch had to clean up and a lot of the perception of the program had to be changed as well.
 
#104
#104
When they hired him.......I didn't know him at all.......soooooo....I go to my 8 ball and it said the outcome looks good.:hi:
 
#105
#105
JackHVFL said:
If you dig hard enough you can find several threads that said he couldn't recruit. Doubt anyone would say that now.

Just be glad we didn't end up with... really anyone else we had previously wanted.
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Yeah you've gotta wonder where we'd be if we had pulled in Charlie Strong or Mike "I'm 40" Gundy.
 
#106
#106
Falcons02 said:
Short answer: No.

Long answer: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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:lolabove: good stuff Falcons02.

I would say that I was unsure about CBJ's recruiting prowess, and other then knowing that Butch replaced Kelly at CM and Cincinnati, I was pretty unfamiliar with Butch in general when he was hired. I did think he would have some good inroads into some of the bigger high schools in Ohio and Michigan... with that said, I thought a lot of his success would depend on the rest of the staff he hired around him. And he has done a Hell of a job surrounding himself with very strong recruiting assistant coaches... I recommend going to the utsports website and look at some of the GA's and lower level assistants and their respective bio. Very impressive indeed. :good!:
 
#107
#107
VolFreakJosh said:
I may get blasted for this but I questioned his recruiting ability when this hire was made. Now, I'm eating crow and the job him and his staff has done on the recruiting trail is outstanding. He could become one of our all time best recruiters if he keeps this up. Recruiting is very important when you're rebuilding a program. My question is, did anyone really expect Butch Jones to recruit this well for Tennessee?
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No. There was nothing in his previous stops that suggested he would recruit like this or that his staff would. Then... he brought basically his whole staff with him. They were mostly northerners and white... many thought both of those would be disadvantageous. Some here and elsewhere even predicted failure because of racial factors.

His history had been coaching players up... not recruiting great talent. If he can prove that he can still do the former while continuing to recruit the way he is... it will turn into something special at UT.
 
#108
#108
StlCardinals2618 said:
People expected Gruden to recruit this well, just shows you how good Butch is
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This really is one of the great ironies of the whole Gruden situation. We wanted Gruden not so much for coaching acumen, but because we thought he would be bringing in the recruiting classes Butch is now getting.
 
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#109
#109
millst987 said:
Butch is a great recruiter for sure. However, I don't think it should be hard at all to recruit well at UT. Just get them on campus and let the fans, facilities, and atmosphere take care of the rest.
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That's not even remotely true to recruit at a championship level. The last two years have been considered pretty good years for TN HSFB prospects. There were 9 4/5*players in '14 and are currently 13 in this class. By comparison here's the combined two year numbers of 4/5* players by rivals' home states:

TN- 22
FL- 106
TX- 71
GA- 64
AL- 22
LA- 31
SC- 15
MS- 12
AR- 7
KY- 3

The situation HAS improved but year in, year out TN still isn't producing enough talent to recruit "home first" like UGA, aTm, and UF can. Bama has a homestate loyalty advantage greater than UT does in spite of having another successful in state program. The best thing to happen for UT recruiting recently is the emergence of quality HSFB in the Nashville area... but Ole Miss, Bama, and Auburn have a long history of success there too. Memphis doesn't help UT much.

UT has a lot to offer and Jones does an extraordinary job of selling it. But other programs have just as many advantages or more. Some of the rival campuses are prettier than UT's. Some of their facilities rival UT's.


Don't sell short what Jones is doing. He is an excellent recruiter. If he keeps this up then he's going to be mentioned in the same breath as a recruiter with Miles, Saban, Richt, Carroll, etc.... IOW's, he has the appearance of being an "elite" recruiter.
 
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#110
#110
StlCardinals2618 said:
People expected Gruden to recruit this well, just shows you how good Butch is
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I always thought that was a false hope. I never believed that Gruden would be willing to put in the work necessary to consistently recruit great... nor did I believe he would be willing to kiss the feet of HS prima donnas
 
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#111
#111
sjt18 said:
I always thought that was a false hope. I never believed that Gruden would be willing to put in the work necessary to consistently recruit great... nor did I believe he would be willing to kiss the feet of HS prima donnas
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Agree with this...I believe the big attraction was instant credibility...the assumption was that the cred would attract recruits. I think that Gruden would be perfect for college...X's and O's wise...kids would buy into his style...I don't know how much patience he would have recruiting wise...and he's never been much of a salesman...but you wouldn't think Saban would be either.
 
#113
#113
I've been impressed with the efforts of Martinez & Stripling. . .Jennings, Jones, Kirkland, Phillips, Martin and Taylor
 
#114
#114
For a fourth or fifth choice, all I have to say is Dave Hart is the luckiest man alive. Now if Donnie Knoxville survives Dave might just be considered a genius. Then we would have to consider Bama Dave the elite NCAA AD. Jeremy Foley would have to bow down when Bama Dave walks into the room.
 
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#115
#115
teeball said:
CBJ has proven he can recruit but has yet to prove he can "coach 'em up". I hope his coaching proves to be just as successful as his recruiting.
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Let one of his classes make completely through the cycle before making that statement. His oldest recruits are only rising Juniors, and they weren't really his primary targets. He kept that first class together and started building his first real class immediately.
 
#119
#119
I'll post this..



"I have tremendous respect for all the coaches in this conference, but we are ready to compete against everyone in all aspects. The velocity and intensity at which we will attack recruiting will be noticed." -Butch Jones."

he said this when he first started and was hired!!
















just sayen..





you listen for coach speak?.. I listen to what he is saying..:hi:
 
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#122
#122
nagle said:
I'll post this..



"I have tremendous respect for all the coaches in this conference, but we are ready to compete against everyone in all aspects. The velocity and intensity at which we will attack recruiting will be noticed." -Butch Jones."

he said this when he first started and was hired!!
















just sayen..





you listen for coach speak?.. I listen to what he is saying..:hi:
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That is my favorite quote of his! Butch Jones is a badass sumbich.
 
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#124
#124
sjt18 said:
That's not even remotely true to recruit at a championship level. The last two years have been considered pretty good years for TN HSFB prospects. There were 9 4/5*players in '14 and are currently 13 in this class. By comparison here's the combined two year numbers of 4/5* players by rivals' home states:

TN- 22
FL- 106
TX- 71
GA- 64
AL- 22
LA- 31
SC- 15
MS- 12
AR- 7
KY- 3

The situation HAS improved but year in, year out TN still isn't producing enough talent to recruit "home first" like UGA, aTm, and UF can. Bama has a homestate loyalty advantage greater than UT does in spite of having another successful in state program. The best thing to happen for UT recruiting recently is the emergence of quality HSFB in the Nashville area... but Ole Miss, Bama, and Auburn have a long history of success there too. Memphis doesn't help UT much.

UT has a lot to offer and Jones does an extraordinary job of selling it. But other programs have just as many advantages or more. Some of the rival campuses are prettier than UT's. Some of their facilities rival UT's.


Don't sell short what Jones is doing. He is an excellent recruiter. If he keeps this up then he's going to be mentioned in the same breath as a recruiter with Miles, Saban, Richt, Carroll, etc.... IOW's, he has the appearance of being an "elite" recruiter.
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Other programs have caught up. I will say that we now have a top 3 training facility and the improvements to Neyland make it one of the best in the country yet again. Our recent improvements have certainly helped us becoming more attractive than the rest of our competition. Butch benefited from coming into a program that finished the facilities upgrades.

He is charismatic and can communicate well with the fan base and recruits. In addition, he could promise early playing time. Our fans and traditions are unique. We are one of the most storied programs in the history of NCAA football. That certainly brings in recruits and makes UT an "easy sale". Plus I believe that our recruiting budget is some of the highest in the country too since we have to recruit out of the state much like Notre Dame.

Dooley and Kiffin had some good recruiting years. However attrition killed us and Dooley never recruited well for our "in the trenches" guys. Kiffin recruited O line well, but neither recruited well for DTs. What impresses me the most is that Butch has recruited extremely well for our needs. He got great RBs and D linemen and this year's O class looks great. He really is stocking up where we are the weakest and neither Dooley nor Kiffin did that successfully.

Butch is getting it done! Let's see if he can coach em up. We will have to see if he can develop the players well and if he is a good in game coach. The Florida loss this year was his one big stain for the season...I felt he lost that one due to poor in game decisions.
 
#125
#125
Not only has CBJ and staff recruited beyond my expectations, he is recruiting good kids who seem to get along with each other. These kids seem to want to play as a TEAM and not act like prima donnas or thugs. They seem to be good in the classroom and have each others backs, at all times. bUTch knows what he is doing and we will see the W's rise on the field of play.
 
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