Josh Pate - Is Tennessee the next CFB tier 1 program?

#27
#27
VOLLeeann said:
Think of how different it could have been if we had been a passing team when Spurrier shunned us.
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Spurrier didn't shun us, Leann, he wanted to come to Knoxville. But our coaching staff decided to stay with the single wing. So he reluctantly went shopping elsewhere for a home.

But your hypothetical is still a good one. Many things would have been different, to the point that it's impossible to know who we (or Florida) would be today as programs.

Go Vols!
 
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#28
#28
ntxVOL said:
I agree those games are very frustrating but it's also part of the journey.

Florida will always be there, they will hire a good coach soon enough that gets them back on track.

Over time, hopefully, the program keeps improving to the point that those kind of games become fewer and farther between.
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I agree that UF is one good coach away from getting back on track. That being said, it seems UF has more going on, like UT did when admin, AD and coaches weren't aligned during our dark decade. Coaches know it too. Oddly, no one would touch UT before...how many refusals did we get, before we got Chancelor, AD and JH lined up (really most all sports trending up now). Think UF may have trouble getting their top ace coach if they don't first solve the rest of their problems.
 
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#29
#29
njvols said:
I agree that UF is one good coach away from getting back on track. That being said, it seems UF has more going on, like UT did when admin, AD and coaches weren't aligned during our dark decade. Coaches know it too. Oddly, no one would touch UT before...how many refusals did we get, before we got Chancelor, AD and JH lined up (really most all sports trending up now). Think UF may have trouble getting their top ace coach if they don't first solve the rest of their problems.
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Yep. Reneging on that QB NIL deal was a huge misstep.
 
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#31
#31
Volador said:
He is wise to state that in-state recruiting means less today than it ever has. (obviously due to so much that has changed over the past few years in NCAAF)

UT Football is now global, and not just worrying about the best recruits out of Chattanooga, Nashville and Memphis.

Good stuff - thanks for sharing link CherokeeVol !
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Instate recruiting is always going to matter. While it’s true we recruit nationally, it’s important to keep good relationships with the really good instate high school football programs. I mean look at the talent this state has produced lately. Multiple 5* QBs and quality DL and RBs. The talent is getting better.

As far as us being the next tier 1 program? It’s definitely possible. Personally I still think we are a few years away from being a truly their 1 program. But I can understand the excitement and anticipation.
 
#33
#33
ptcarter said:
I like Josh, but he's sort of like those preseason magazines that have a different cover for each market and they pump the team on the cover. Am I wrong?
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That’s not a bad analogy for JP.

Josh Pate sees himself more as a reporter rather than a pundit. He treats his platform as a way to inform people about what’s going on and he will throw in some reasonable outcomes to convince the audience that the subject matters.

His weekly show is usually around 90 minutes long and he covers a different program about every 5-10 minutes so he ends up with a lot of 5 minutes clips on most SEC programs and playoff contenders from other power 5 programs. The problem I have is that if I listen to him more than once a month, I get the feeling that I’ve already seen this episode.
 
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#34
#34
BigOrangeTrain said:
Instate recruiting is always going to matter. While it’s true we recruit nationally, it’s important to keep good relationships with the really good instate high school football programs. I mean look at the talent this state has produced lately. Multiple 5* QBs and quality DL and RBs. The talent is getting better.

As far as us being the next tier 1 program? It’s definitely possible. Personally I still think we are a few years away from being a truly their 1 program. But I can understand the excitement and anticipation.
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Agree - we always want to land talented young men from the Volunteer state.
 
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#35
#35
cherokeeeVOL said:
Here's another solid one from Josh Pate. Starting around the 36 minute mark, he spends a good 10 minutes or so on Tennessee as the next premier program. As long as recruiting continues as it currently is and we continue to see solid on-field results, we should be in for another nice run around here 😎. Sure is nice to be in the conversation again with a coach who knows what he's doing!

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If the defensive backfield can lock opposing receivers down this season, this team will be very hard to defeat.
 
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#36
#36
volbound1700 said:
I am excited about the direction of Tennessee football but at the same time, I still have some reservations. A lot of it relates to the Florida game last year. They were there to beat and we choked heavily. Still left bad taste in my mouth with 2023 team. I didn't expect them to beat Alabama and Georgia but still having the Florida monkey there was frustrating (Missouri was as well).

I think the 2024 team is ready to explode but we will wait and see.
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The Florida game was a mix of terrible play and seemingly strategy in the first half, and flat out bad officiating in the 2nd half.
 
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#40
#40
VolunteerCeltic said:
Vols have to beat Florida, Georgia and Bama with some regularity to be Tier 1, recruiting is awesome ATM but the results on the field is the only metric that matters.
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We need to get back to where if we beat all 3 of those in any year we should be in the mix to win the NC. When we win 2 out of 3 of those it should be considered a good year, and if we beat only 1 of them it's a dissapointing year. Losing all 3 means we down in the dumps (as we unfortunatelly experienced during very painful stretch of 15 or so years). Only when we get back to that type of schedule will we truly be back where Vols need to be including ranked in top 10-15 pretty much all the time. And of course this assumes no surprising loses to SCjr, Mizzou, and similar subpar programs, let alone to Kentucky or GOD forbid Vandy.
 
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#41
#41
volbound1700 said:
I am excited about the direction of Tennessee football but at the same time, I still have some reservations. A lot of it relates to the Florida game last year. They were there to beat and we choked heavily. Still left bad taste in my mouth with 2023 team. I didn't expect them to beat Alabama and Georgia but still having the Florida monkey there was frustrating (Missouri was as well).

I think the 2024 team is ready to explode but we will wait and see.
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Oklahoma away (UT has struggled beating good teams on the road - LSU is lone example with bad losses to mediocre UF / USC teams - and Florida will tell the tale for me (for this season). Win both and I will be on the train. Lose both . . . Same old stuff.
 
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#43
#43
volbound1700 said:
Agree. I just don't like all the hype. Granted it is offseason and this comes with the territory. I want Tennessee to prove it more on the field and then we get the hype.

Had we gone 10-2 last year with wins over Florida and Missouri, I would probably be embracing it more. Perhaps the 2015-2017 run where we got hype under Butch Jones or even going into the 2020 season with Pruitt scarred me a little. Fulmer's last hype collapses in 2002 and 2005 didn't help either.
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Hendon Hooker would have given us 10 wins. Milton didn’t have it in him.
 
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