In state recruiting.

[Jabruzar]

How concerned should we be that the vast majority of in-state talent chose out of state schools in Pruitt’s 1st year?

 

[#Vol4Life1991]

This is going to be good

 

[VFL92]

 

[RazzBury]

Somewhere between "Tennessee hs football is inferior anyway, so who cares?" and "shut the program down and put all the money into the women's bowling team".

 

[InstrumentalVol]

How concerned should we be that the vast majority of in-state talent chose out of state schools in Pruitt’s 1st year?

Not very. We are currently the worst team in the state & Pruitt has still managed to pull Eric Gray & other targets (Lampley, etc.) Once we improve our record and the brand improves we will be able to pull the "Come represent your state in championships" card. Not worried even a bit. Worry about the ones we got not the ones we dont.

 

[AaronUT]

How concerned should we be that the vast majority of in-state talent chose out of state schools in Pruitt’s 1st year?

WV top recruit probably picking TN. Florida top recruit chose UGA, amd 2nd top chose Bama. Bama's top recruit picked UGA. NC top recruit is favored to land at TN. There are many more but look them up on 247 yourself.

Tl;dr not concerned at all

 

[VolFan4life24]

it’s all falling apart. Pruitt has lost control. Fire him now!! I don’t know why he even goes out of state to recruit I would stay completely in state.

 

[RollerVol]

it does concern me some, but is not the be-all, end-all...we did get five from Tennessee but there were some who chose to go elsewhere...when we start winning more and going bowling I expect more that will want to come and be a Vol...that would be nice...

GO VOLS...RECRUIT LIKE HECK!

 

[Jabruzar]

Not very. We are currently the worst team in the state & Pruitt has still managed to pull Eric Gray & other targets (Lampley, etc.) Once we improve our record and the brand improves we will be able to pull the "Come represent your state in championships" card. Not worried even a bit. Worry about the ones we got not the ones we dont.

I agree and we definitely pulled some talent from out of state as well. I guess I was a little surprised to see the way the in-state recruiting board turned out.

 

[jakez4ut]

lol. we shouldnt' be.

 

[njvols]

How concerned should we be that the vast majority of in-state talent chose out of state schools in Pruitt’s 1st year?

Depends how we play this year. For certain, the bigger middle TN gets in population is going to attract more attention, so competition will get more intense. That's ok if we get "ours". If we handle our stuff this year on the field, bringing in the TN boys we want won't be a problem...not that we won't lose one here or there to other schools...happens to every team.

 

[vols 30]

These current recruits only know UT having bad seasons for the most part. Win consistently, then we will see

 

[jakez4ut]

Depends how we play this year. For certain, the bigger middle TN gets in population is going to attract more attention, so competition will get more intense. That's ok if we get "ours". If we handle our stuff this year on the field, bringing in the TN boys we want won't be a problem...not that we won't lose one here or there to other schools...happens to every team.

mid staters need to go to more rivals camps is all i know.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

I think the OP does raise a fair point especially after Dooley did not emphasize in-state recruiting/relationships....

I'm not overly concerned yet but we will see in a couple of years.

 

[Nash_Vol97]

How concerned should we be that the vast majority of in-state talent chose out of state schools in Pruitt’s 1st year?

Not concerned at all. Give me good players, I don’t care one bit where they come from and neither does Pruitt.

 

[jakez4ut]

Zion Logue, Maurice Hampton, Bill NOrton are the only 3 we really pushed for that we didn't get. and Logue said we were too late. which is funny cuase he committed to GA who offered him 2 or 3 days before we did. stuff happens.

i'll worry about in state recruiting at the end of hte next cycle.

 

[Jabruzar]

These current recruits only know UT having bad seasons for the most part. Win consistently, then we will see

I agree. Hopefully, Pruitt and Co are developing strong relationships with the in-state programs because those friendships/relationships are extremely vital; especially when your program is down.

 

[MassivePeytonManning99]

like with anything else: we'll see. could work out if you hit on your guys, and we've always tried to recruit more regionally and nationally for most of our history because TN itself doesn't supply all we need to compete.

on the other hand, the mid-state is growing rapidly and i think it helps to establish relationships there. only commit we have there is a guy from MBA. obviously in-state kids are like kids from any other place and wanna go to winners, but i'd say that's a negative.

positive though is we've gotten 2-3 kids from memphis who are properly good. that's absolutely a plus in my book.

 

[alaVOL]

As we get better this should rectify itself being that this staff has many good recruiters.

 

[VFL92]

I think the OP does raise a fair point especially after Dooley did not emphasize in-state recruiting/relationships....

I'm not overly concerned yet but we will see in a couple of years.

Fair point? Maybe. Dooley emphasized it. Butch emphasized it. Both were losers. In the end, Pruitt will be judged based on what happens on the field. If he can turn this class into winners, none of us will care where they came from. The 4 best QBs we've had in the last 25 years have been from Louisiana (Peyton), Alabama (Tee), California (Ice Man) and Georgia (Dobbs).

Now, I will say, if Pruitt doesn't have success in the next 3-4 years and continues to let the top talent to leave the state, fans will point to that and raise legitimate questions, like you say.

For the time being, let's give him time and let him do his thing with the players he's got.

 

[Pride85]

I think the key statement is first year. If it continues after next year, then we will see. I think comparing the recruiting styles of CJP and Derek Dooley are like comparing apples to Space Shuttles.

 

[jwilliams]

I'm not an expert in these matters, so this may be bull----. Our staff is mostly from out of state and we've been recruiting the areas they know pretty well (Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina). Given some time, I think they'll build tighter relationships with Tennessee HS coaches, which will help us out in our own state. We have pulled a couple kids from Memphis, and I wonder how much David Johnson helped with that.

Anyway, just some thoughts...

 

[SugarCC]

Zion Logue, Maurice Hampton, Bill NOrton are the only 3 we really pushed for that we didn't get. and Logue said we were too late. which is funny cuase he committed to GA who offered him 2 or 3 days before we did. stuff happens.

i'll worry about in state recruiting at the end of hte next cycle.

This.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Fair point? Maybe. Dooley emphasized it. Butch emphasized it. Both were losers. In the end, Pruitt will be judged based on what happens on the field. If he can turn this class into winners, none of us will care where they came from. The 4 best QBs we've had in the last 25 years have been from Louisiana (Peyton), Alabama (Tee), California (Ice Man) and Georgia (Dobbs).

Now, I will say, if Pruitt doesn't have success in the next 3-4 years and continues to let the top talent to leave the state, fans will point to that and raise legitimate questions, like you say.

For the time being, let's give him time and let him do his thing with the players he's got.

Dooley did not emphasize building in-state relationships. That was a pretty well known (and well publicized fact in the TN HS community). That would explain that in Dooley's last class, only 1 in-state guy with more than 2* (per Rivals) was signed. Butch did a much better job of building those relationships. You were right, both Dooley and Butch were losers.

I'm not going to make a grand statement on in-state recruiting after this cycle; however, if 2-3 years from now, we are still stuck in the middle of the SEC pack while other programs are developing those relationships in the rapidly growing Metro Nashville area, then its fair to revisit it.

 

[Jabruzar]

Fair point? Maybe. Dooley emphasized it. Butch emphasized it. Both were losers. In the end, Pruitt will be judged based on what happens on the field. If he can turn this class into winners, none of us will care where they came from. The 4 best QBs we've had in the last 25 years have been from Louisiana (Peyton), Alabama (Tee), California (Ice Man) and Georgia (Dobbs).

Now, I will say, if Pruitt doesn't have success in the next 3-4 years and continues to let the top talent to leave the state, fans will point to that and raise legitimate questions, like you say.

For the time being, let's give him time and let him do his thing with the players he's got.

In state recruiting isn’t everything and you can’t get everyone you want. Ultimately, we have to trust that Pruitt has a strategy for how he wants to build his team and that he can execute on that strategy.