'20 GA OL Tate Ratledge (UGA commit)

#385
#385
It seems kinda weird to me that if you were to look at his IG page and other social media you’d think he’s already a UGA Commit, but every recruiting expert has said that Tennessee is a factor.

What I’ve gotten from following this is that his friends and people he goes to school with want him to go to Georgia, but the family wants him to go to Tennessee. Hopefully he respects his elders 🤷‍♂️
 
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#386
#386
vol4092 said:
Tate Ratledge wins Opening OL MVP, updates recruitment
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I believe the evaluation period doesn’t start until mid April? If true, all the coaches can do at the school, is ‘bump’ into the prospect during the day, they are allowed to watch, say a basketball game. More dumb rules. I’d say going to play b-ball with the coach might be a no-no, again, depends on which “period” we are in, schools can work them out on campus and then evaluation period can both check athletic ability and academic progress. Just a heads up, I would have sent this via PM if I could.

Geez, have I ever stated how dumb NCAA rules are? Just don’t get them, they make no sense.

Still think his heart is All Vol. He says summer decision but wouldn’t be surprised if he waits to see how UT plays this year, still think the floor there is 8 wins, jmho.
 
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#389
#389
secking said:
Still think his heart is All Vol. He says summer decision but wouldn’t be surprised if he waits to see how UT plays this year, still think the floor there is 8 wins, jmho.
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I think it will depend a lot on the progress the offensive line makes this season. Idk about 8 wins being the floor though. This team still will have the worst Oline in the conference most likely even with significant improvement. I just don't know if this offense is good enough for 8 wins minimum
 
#390
#390
DaddyChad said:
I think it will depend a lot on the progress the offensive line makes this season. Idk about 8 wins being the floor though. This team still will have the worst Oline in the conference most likely even with significant improvement. I just don't know if this offense is good enough for 8 wins minimum
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Worst? I’m more optimistic than that.
 
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#391
#391
DaddyChad said:
I think it will depend a lot on the progress the offensive line makes this season. Idk about 8 wins being the floor though. This team still will have the worst Oline in the conference most likely even with significant improvement. I just don't know if this offense is good enough for 8 wins minimum
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Easiest OOC schedule I ever recall, I don’t think it’s asking too much for a .500 season in the SEC, think 8-4 is extremely doable.
 
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#393
#393
LibertyVol said:
With Tennessee's offensive line, I am thinking 7-5 and will be dang glad to get it.
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I’m starting to think the DL may be a bigger problem for us than OL in 2019. More experience on the OL, the addition of 2 5* OTs, and an OC who knows what he’s doing seems like a recipe for the OL to take a nice step forward.

DL brings back very little experience outside of Darrell Taylor, is counting on Solomon becoming eligible (NCAA loves to screw us over) and Savion Williams to be great day 1. If Solomon’s eligible and Williams shows up ready to go, we can probably scrape together a solid starting 4, but depth there will still be pretty scary. Those 4 will have to play a lot of snaps. If Solomon isn’t eligible and/or Williams isn’t ready to go, then our front 4 could be a big problem for a defense that otherwise seems set to take a nice step forward.
 
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#394
#394
Can’t afford to play a ton of snaps. Some guys are going to have to step up. DL a legitimate concern. This is a 7 win team in my opinion.
 
#395
#395
JacketVol said:
Can’t afford to play a ton of snaps. Some guys are going to have to step up. DL a legitimate concern. This is a 7 win team in my opinion.
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Both sides of the ball in the trenches is questionable. We have to run the ball better and this was the worst team in the nation at allowing defensive contact in the backfield. I can see Pruitt is making progress in these areas BUT we're going to have to have some young players step up and contribute immediately. There are a few players that can step in and contribute immediately but not many are going to be playing at a high level in the toughest conference in America. Long story short there aren't many Trey Smith's in the world.

If Pruitt gets to 8 wins I would go ahead and try to lock him down long term BC I have no doubt if he can win with this roster currently that he will be a great coach when he has four years to flip the whole locker room
 
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#399
#399
DaddyChad said:
Both sides of the ball in the trenches is questionable. We have to run the ball better and this was the worst team in the nation at allowing defensive contact in the backfield. I can see Pruitt is making progress in these areas BUT we're going to have to have some young players step up and contribute immediately. There are a few players that can step in and contribute immediately but not many are going to be playing at a high level in the toughest conference in America. Long story short there aren't many Trey Smith's in the world.

If Pruitt gets to 8 wins I would go ahead and try to lock him down long term BC I have no doubt if he can win with this roster currently that he will be a great coach when he has four years to flip the whole locker room
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Wishful thinking maybe, but I kind of think we may be pleasantly surprised with the OL this year. I don't expect them to be dominant or anything, but even if they're just able to play more disciplined this year, it would help the offense a ton. Just cut way down on the mental mistakes like penalties and guys blown assignments and we'll see fewer drives stall out and give us a chance to make things happen on offense. Last year the worst thing about the OL wasn't that guys just got physically whipped all the time. It was that there were way too many times where all 5 OL couldn't at least get a body on a body. I also expect Cheney to bring a lot more to the table schematically and strategically than Helton did. I could see him doing a better job of masking some deficiencies on the OL.

DL, on the other hand, just flat out scares me. There's some upside there, but even our best case scenario there doesn't leave us with too much quality depth. I worry that out top 4-5 guys will have to play too many snaps and wear down late into the season like they did in 2018.
 
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#400
#400
The visit will allow the 6-foot-6.5, 306-pound Ratledge to attend one of the Vols’ spring practices. Steve Wiltfong, 247Sports’ director of recruiting, first reported Sunday that Ratledge would be making another trip to Tennessee this weekend.

Ratledge was born in Chattanooga, Tenn., and grew up liking Tennessee. He already has visited the Vols several times, most recently on Jan. 26 for one of their junior days.

He’s ranked the No. 52 overall prospect and No. 5 offensive tackle in the 2020 class, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.
Georgia and Alabama once appeared to be the early favorites to land Ratledge. But Tennessee recently has emerged as perhaps the home-state Bulldogs’ primary competition for him.
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247
 
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