FL LB DeMario Tolan (LSU commit)

[volbeast33]

Stoops at UK is a good example. From regular bottom feeder to consistently in the top half of the conference, but it took more than a season or two.

Yep….. I feel recruiting will be on the upswing as players notice us more and more…. It’s already starting to show in the next class.

 

[AllVol11717]

Here we go...the seeds of discontent are being spread.

Look...we've had "good" recruiters, and they have galactically sucked ass, so give me great coaching, scheming and development, win games and see what happens.

I also am not going to blame coaches when no money will be spent...that is completely out of their hands.

Right? So far this staff has done more with less while the past fews staffs have done less with more.

I’ll let the guy get his players and start getting upset when/if we start losing games we shouldn’t again.

 

[Maxwell865]

Everyone is going on and on about the coaches not closing on these last few like the ones they already closed on don’t count.

We’ve had 4 commits in the past 2 weeks… if they waited til ESD it would be considered a massive day. VN stays thirsty for commits

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

Everyone is going on and on about the coaches not closing on these last few like the ones they already closed on don’t count.

Exactly...I have decided that I am not going to bitch about recruiting anymore. We have had good recruiters and they have sucked at literally everything else.

Besides that, I am positive that we are not doing what it looks like everybody else is doing when it comes to money...you can not blame that on the staff.

 

[vol9799]

who is making fun of GA? Other than the Bama bang little brother, we have no room to talk about them.

I don't do social media, but even I saw all the stuff that was said and posted in regular print, broadcast and social media after they lost the SEC Championship Game. Our standing joke here revolves around their trophy case and the year 1980. My point is that while we say we need to catch up with UGA, there are a lot of folks who would still be having a negative meltdown if we were in there shoes and had all that talent and weren't winning both SEC and National Championships.

We've forgotten how to be patient and enjoy the ride.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

Right? So far this staff has done more with less while the past fews staffs have done less with more.

I’ll let the guy get his players and start getting upset when/if we start losing games we shouldn’t again.

Agreed..plus you have to believe the kids we are getting are not purely mercenary, and are pretty smart to see how we can help them.

 

[UTMVol76]

I think its clear from this year that this staff is not content with middle of the pack. Want proof? Look at the Georgia and Alabama games. Against Alabama, we could have punted in the 4th quarter and the point spread would have been closer and a more "respectable" loss. Heup kept going. During the Georgia game we could have kicked 2 maybe 3 FGs, would have scored 20+ and we would have been the talk of the town for that moment against that Defense. Instead Heup is going for it because he wants wins, not respectable losses.

There's a difference between shooting for mid-tier and setting stretch goals for short, mid, and long term success and celebrating those goals and wins as you achieve them (beating UK for instance, no way a celebration 20 years ago). Kills me some can't see reality, and adjust accordingly.

 

[orange parmejohn]

The staff can focus on building a championship team with fans having realistic expectations that we aren’t going to be ready to take that step for another few years until all the damage is fixed.

Guys like Orgeron and Miles stepped into messy situations, but they already had the pieces in place to compete nationally.

Alabama had been irrelevant for many years when Saban took over, but he walked into a much better situation than Heupel did talent wise.

It’s one of the things that pissed me off about Butch and Pruitt. For a 3 year period, Butch was on paper recruiting at a level that was needed to return Tennessee to the elite. He just sucked at all the other aspects of the job needed to maintain and nurture that talent. Pruitt’s staff could recruit, but the one we relied on the most was the one picking up takeout from McDonalds.

Plus guys like Saban (Not including Smart since Richt never had a drop off in recruiting) never had to deal with 30+ guys transferring out of the program in one calendar year when they took over, nor did they have to deal with NIL drama overtaking everything else.

My bad I thought you were referring to the staff when you said “we.”

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

It's a given that LSU would have a little momentum coming off an official visit. Hopefully the coaches have been talking to him a lot since then and the negative press about Brian Kelly gives him enough doubts about LSU.

 

[BDB88]

Yep….. I feel recruiting will be on the upswing as players notice us more and more…. It’s already starting to show in the next class.

It's also not like our class is all that bad this year either. Defense side of it needs to be better but we have some studs in the class on that side. Its always gonna be lacking compared to the offensive side of the ball just with the style of play we have. Its also part of having an offensive minded coach. To me it seems whatever the HC is known for that side of the ball is always better in recruiting with the exception of Bama, but they started on run on defense.

 

[drylo]

Alot of people including some of their own fans similar to us during the 90’s….. I regret being one of those people.

Agreed — it is super toxic for fans to join in on ridiculing our own program. There will always be plenty of haters to do that for us. Vol fans just need to laugh it off and say “we coming.”

Fortunately, Heupel comes across as one of the most chill, genuine, self-assured but humble, and likable head coaches in the SEC. It’s hard to get a lot of traction ridiculing someone like that.

 

[m1al]

Here we go...the seeds of discontent are being spread.

Look...we've had "good" recruiters, and they have galactically sucked ass at literally every other aspect of the job, so give me great coaching, scheming and development, win games and see what happens.

I also am not going to blame coaches when no money will be spent...that is completely out of their hands.

This... Definitely a nice change to have coaches that can actually develop and coach for a change. IMO, you show progression there, that you actually have something to sell and recruiting will take care of itself.

 

[onevol74]

I agree with the need for stability, but if that staff is focusing on being middle of the pack then that is exactly what the program is going to stay.

If you think our offense is middle of the pack then you have issues. Let these guys do their job. They did a good job with the portal last year and there is no reason they will not do the same this year.

 

[wmcovol]

I think the BAM usc jr got with Rattler has some of our fans looking for a similar hit. Well, it may not be there right now but its coming. This recruiting class could have been 12th or below in the SEC this year with all the issues this staff faced coming in. Am I exploding with excitement? No, but I started viewing recruiting differently several years ago. Guys I thought would be studs were duds and guys I thought probably couldnt play turned out to be the real players. Relax, its getting better.....

 

[sjt18]

Controversial take:

We shouldn’t be stressing out about winning championships right now.

We are so far away from that and have been now for 13+ years. Nobody’s fixing that anytime soon. Not Heupel. Not Super Coach (even though he’s just a phone call away!). Nobody.

We need to focus on program stability right now above all else. Recruiting solid classes. Getting to bowl games. Getting into the top 25. We do that consistently for 4 or 5 years and all this other stuff will start to come our way.

Actually no one is "so far away" from competing now. A great coach who makes the right portal moves and catches some breaks with injuries... can compete pretty much immediately.

Stability... is better known as stagnation in CFB. Stagnation... impacts recruiting but will likely impact the portal even more. The guys who can really help you in the portal do NOT want to move to a loser. They don't want to move to a "stable" program winning 6-8 games per season.

The last "13+ years" have been a product of consistently poor coaching hires... often in pursuit of "stability". Jones appeared to be stable. He badly underperformed his first 3 rosters and any fool could see that there was a fairly significant talent drop off coming. But for the sake of "stability"... UT didn't move on him. In fact, they gave him a raise and extension. When UT finally comes out of this valley... a big piece will be an AD who refuses to accept "stability" unless it means competing for championships.

Thankfully neither Heupel nor White appears to buy into what you're saying.

 

[sjt18]

I think the BAM usc jr got with Rattler has some of our fans looking for a similar hit. Well, it may not be there right now but its coming. This recruiting class could have been 12th or below in the SEC this year with all the issues this staff faced coming in. Am I exploding with excitement? No, but I started viewing recruiting differently several years ago. Guys I thought would be studs were duds and guys I thought probably couldnt play turned out to be the real players. Relax, its getting better.....

Rattler was overrated... if that's upsetting people then... they need to get their heads straight.

 

[i2amavol]

Ap thinks he sticks with LSU. We're literally whiffing on everyone down the stretch. Williams is the only one

I think this year it may be like Oprah: "You get a prize! You get a prize! You get a prize!"

With the portal, and with NIL, I think we have only seen the start, of people transferring. Those who have filled up on high school kids will mostly miss out on the transfer bonanza that is coming; and those who still have spots, for whatever reason planned or not, will have plenty of opportunities going forward.

Is there some risk in this strategy? Sure, but I think the potential rewards are worth the risk.

Disclaimer: This is no way an endorsement of the person pictured above.

 

[Carp]

Actually no one is "so far away" from competing now. A great coach who makes the right portal moves and catches some breaks with injuries... can compete pretty much immediately.

Stability... is better known as stagnation in CFB. Stagnation... impacts recruiting but will likely impact the portal even more. The guys who can really help you in the portal do NOT want to move to a loser. They don't want to move to a "stable" program winning 6-8 games per season.

The last "13+ years" have been a product of consistently poor coaching hires... often in pursuit of "stability". Jones appeared to be stable. He badly underperformed his first 3 rosters and any fool could see that there was a fairly significant talent drop off coming. But for the sake of "stability"... UT didn't move on him. In fact, they gave him a raise and extension. When UT finally comes out of this valley... a big piece will be an AD who refuses to accept "stability" unless it means competing for championships.

Thankfully neither Heupel nor White appears to buy into what you're saying.

Stoops brought stability to UK. They're now on the threshold of their 2nd 10 win season in the last 4 years. Likewise to Ms State under Mullen. They averaged 8 wins a year from 2010-2013 that finally culminated in a 10 win season and a (brief) No. 1 ranking in 2014. Butch actually recruited well despite being "stagnant." Had he not been a garbage human, he might still be here. He brought the most consistent success we've seen since the early 2000's.

Stability shouldn't be discounted. UT simply isn't what it used to be in the eyes of recruits. We're going to have to build up this brand again. And it's likely going to take longer than 2-3 seasons to do that.

 

[Revived2002]

A great coach who makes the right portal moves and catches some breaks with injuries... can compete pretty much immediately.

Ah, the Super Coach fallacy....

Lol

 

[RiseToTheTop]

Ah, the Super Coach fallacy....

Lol

He isn’t wrong though
We just saw teams do it.

 

[yourstruly23]

 

[sjt18]

Ah, the Super Coach fallacy....

Lol

No fallacy. The fallacy is believing that a coach will fail to win at least 9 games in their first 3 years and go on to win championships at that school. If a coach is "stable" and mediocre in the first 4 or 5 years then they are NOT going to get the players needed to push higher. Out of hundreds of examples in CFB over the last 30 years... you won't find more than 5 or 10 exceptions. I don't think you'll find any in the SEC.

 

[Revived2002]

He isn’t wrong though
We just saw teams do it.

I'd like a list of the ones that did it after having:
1) 8 losing seasons in 14 years
2) the cloud of an NCAA investigation
3) Multiple years without any NFL draft picks
4) A revolving door of coaches
5) ~30 players transferring out

We need to get real about the current state of the program we are following and frankly lower our expectations

I'm amazed people have stuck with Tennessee this long and still believe we are right on the cusp of competing for titles if we'd just hire the right coach... lol

 

[RiseToTheTop]

I'd like a list of the ones that did it after having:
1) 8 losing seasons in 14 years
2) the cloud of an NCAA investigation
3) Multiple years without any NFL draft picks
4) A revolving door of coaches
5) ~30 players transferring out

We need to get real about the current state of the program we are following and frankly lower our expectations

I'm amazed people have stuck with Tennessee this long and still believe we are right on the cusp of competing for titles if we'd just hire the right coach... lol

im not reading all that. I gotta work

 

[Jimmy Football]

Still in the game.