Knox Catholic High/Clemson

[savannahfan]

Take off your tin foil hat. This type of entitlement is part of the reason UT has struggled so much the last decade. Catholic has no incentive to send guys only to UT. They do have incentive to send guys to National Championship rosters, which Clemson has produced lately. Additionally, based on the religious makeup of East TN, I'd venture the bulk of Catholic's student population is composed of transplants, so a there likely isn't a huge sense of loyalty around the campus.

UT needs to be better at football and better at recruiting. The coaches need to earn recruits, not just sit back and expect schools like Catholic to hand them over.

What type of "incentives" are you talking about for a high
school? Is it "recruiting" at the high school level? I have wondered over the last few years about private schools "recruiting". I see many kids playing football for them that would have no way of paying for private schooling. Are these schools "paying" these kids with tuition and other costs? Just wondering.

 

[VolRoger]

Wrong! These kids are absolutely not mostly transplants.

They are not even all catholic that attend the school. I had several friends who are very protestant send their kids to Catholic High School because of the private status as well as the academics. Cade Mays' dad, Kevin Mays, is an ex-Vol and VFL, as we all know. Harrison Smith's parents were UT grads and big UT fans. Frankly, Catholic High School has had very few upper Division 1 Power 5 recruits when you look at their history. Cade Mays is an anomaly there. Had all this upheaval in the coaching staff happened a year ago, I would say our chances of steering Cade Mays back to UT were pretty good. Just bad timing.

 

[JettVol]

Seems like a very strange mentality to me. I am from NJ and went to Clemson, after looking at schools all over the country. Should I have been “ostracized” for not going to Rutgers? I get that Mays has a familial connection but it just seems oddly presumptuous to assume that a kid needs to go to the major school most geographically near where he grew up...🤔

I agree the kid shouldn't be ostracized at all, however I think the UT fans are upset that our inept football management has allowed a kid whose dad and uncle went to UT and who has been to countless games and is a self admitted Vol fan leave our university for another.

He did this bc UT's previous what 4 coaching staff's have been totally inept at player development and he is not willing with the body of work he has seen over the last 10 years take a chance on UT. I wouldn't either if I were in his shoes. If we go on social media and disrespect this kid it only hurts future recruiting. Cade Mays will not be the only 5* that comes from Tennessee. If fans start badgering these kids it will only be used by other coaching staffs across America to show how bad of a place UT is and how ugly the fanbase is.

We need to just wish the kid well and let him know if Clemson doesn't work out he will be welcomed back to UT with open arms if he is allowed to transfer from Clemson. We need to stop burning bridges. Cade Mays, Jalen Hurd, etc.... those kids go to Tennessee H.s. that we will continue to recruit at. If we go postal on their best athletes why in the world would any kid after them want to come here after the way their best was treated. It makes no sense.

 

[Dreamsicle]

Our program is second to none. The problem has been incompetence in coaching and management.

Tennessee is a Ferrari being driven by a drunk blind man.

"Scent of a Woman" reference?

 

[10ecVol]

It’s hard to believe Knoxville has allowed one of its best football school become a recruiting stronghold for Clemson. Clearly they recruit Knoxville talent that is steered away from TN. I sure hope Pruitt can clear whatever poor taste that lingers with their coach after he left the TN program as a transfer to Memphis in the early 90’s or that he is removed from Knoxville soon.

Sorry intended this for the recruiting forum.

I have to offer my opinion here. I'm a huge UT fan and have been for a long time. My first UT game was the 1966 victory over Kentucky in Neyland.
My relationship with Knoxville Catholic started 15 years ago when family was enrolled there. I've had more than one child enrolled there for the past 7 years and have will have another 5 years involvement with the school before I'm done.
Disclaimer: I'm no "insider" and claim knowledge of Cade Mays choice!
I do however claim direct knowledge of the school and its leadership.
In my interaction with coach Matthews I detect absolutely zero anti-Tennessee bias. Assuming he's butt hurt from some imaginary slight by UT when he was in college is just that- imaginary. He's a Vols fan.
The school president (principal) is very pro-UT and deeply involved in the athletics of the school (Catholic that is). The athletic director is Jason Surlas- UT guy through and through. To think they would allow something like that?
Insinuating or claiming that a Catholic/Clemson "pipeline" exists is just out and out wrong.
Amari Rodgers never considered UT to begin with. Whether it was his father steering him away, whatever, some sort of issue kept him from considering UT long before Clemson came into the picture- please recall he was a USC commit before Clemson.
Cade Mays is an entirely different scenario with (from what I see) no high school influence/bias at work. I'm sure Amari has/had been recruiting him (just like he turned Higgins), but it's more a family issue with Mr. Mayes.
Please remember that Cade attended Webb before and was set to go to high school there. His dad abruptly transferred Cade to Catholic after some issues with other parents and a "Webb Centric" traveling baseball team that I won't get into here (one of the issues that lead to the cancellation of the Webb-Catholic rivalry). Anybody see a pattern there?
Ask yourself: if UT had gone 8-4 or 9-3, would we be discussing Cade and Clemson? I personally think that winning takes care of a lot of problems in this case.
Cade has some maturing to do. I had a lot of maturing to do when I was seventeen and would bet that 99% of us here were in the same boat.

 

[GVol1966]

The people at fault when it comes to this are the people in Knoxville who will cheer for these kids when they turn their back on their home state and play for Clemson. Guys like Tee Higgins and Cade Mays should be ostracized for not going to UT. They should feel social pressure to represent their home state. And if they don't wanna do that then get the hell out of Tennessee and never come back.

It’s a free country. Kids have a right to go any damn place they want to play football

 

[illinoisvolfan1]

Yes, I've posted it already on Volnation at least three other times, but I'll say it again here.

It is an absurd travesty of the highest order that Knox Catholic, a private school, is allowed to participate in a public school division. Their state title this year (and the subsequent ones sure to come) is a complete joke.

TSSAA needs to fix their classification, but I ain't holding my breath.

AV

PS. I obviously hope all of their good players, private or public, figure out it's time to start committing to the Vols. Congrats to all the KC players (none of this is their fault) who did what the TSSAA required them to do - beat up on public school teams and win the title.

Here in Illinois the private schools have to play up at least one class in the playoffs. Helps even things out some but they still tend to do very well.

 

[10ecVol]

Here in Illinois the private schools have to play up at least one class in the playoffs. Helps even things out some but they still tend to do very well.

In Tennessee the "multiplier" is 1.8. A school has to multiply it's student population by 1.8. Basically doubles the classification of where Catholic would be playing without the adjustment. In Catholic's case, they are a mid-size AA class playing in AAAAA.

 

[CABVOL]

The ‘recruiting’ thing at private schools happens all over. St X and Trinity in Louisville participate in this regularly. They pull in kids from all over the state. Have even pulled kids from Indiana. When my son played, his school was in western Kentucky. St X was trying to get a couple of kids off his team.

Don’t believe that it doesn’t happen.

 

[10ecVol]

The ‘recruiting’ thing at private schools happens all over. St X and Trinity in Louisville participate in this regularly. They pull in kids from all over the state. Have even pulled kids from Indiana. When my son played, his school was in western Kentucky. St X was trying to get a couple of kids off his team.

Don’t believe that it doesn’t happen.

Agree, but I would think it wise to realize that public high schools who have successful sports programs do the same thing.

 

[CABVOL]

Agree, but I would think it wise to realize that public high schools that have successful sports programs are doing the same thing.

Oh I agree it happens at some public schools. I just judge it’s more prevalent at private schools.

 

[10ecVol]

Oh I agree it happens at some public schools. I just judge it’s more prevalent at private schools.

The catholic school system recruits (gives scholarships) far more disadvantaged children who have no athletic prowess and can't afford a private education than they do athletes.
In Cade Mays case, no recruitment was involved. Webb was the family's first choice.
Both private and public, parents see a way for their kids to get a leg up and they make that move.

 

[volunator]

If this were the case then Payton should never have came here. None of our great players from other states should have came here. Just recruit Tennessee and be done with it.

 

[utvols74]

The people at fault when it comes to this are the people in Knoxville who will cheer for these kids when they turn their back on their home state and play for Clemson. Guys like Tee Higgins and Cade Mays should be ostracized for not going to UT. They should feel social pressure to represent their home state. And if they don't wanna do that then get the hell out of Tennessee and never come back.

Um...ok...so as a father of 2 teenage boys and Vol fan since '74 I believe I have a different take.

If one of my sons said, "Dad, I know you like UT and all and I do too....but....Michigan has a much better school for _______ which is what I really want to do if football doesn't work out. Plus, Michigan has a great coach and seems to be on the trend up. UT is just coming out of extreme turmoil...so...I'm not so sure. I think I prefer Michigan".

My response?

"All behind you son, I'll be a Michigan fan as long as you're there".

 

[UT-Rex]

The people at fault when it comes to this are the people in Knoxville who will cheer for these kids when they turn their back on their home state and play for Clemson. Guys like Tee Higgins and Cade Mays should be ostracized for not going to UT. They should feel social pressure to represent their home state. And if they don't wanna do that then get the hell out of Tennessee and never come back.

This is WAY out of bounds for many reasons (calling for social pressure on high school students ??), especially considering

you approve of your main man Josh Dobbs choosing Tennessee over GA or Tech.

 

[bignewt]

Why don't we just start recruiting kids from Greenville High and call it even?

 

[head1]

My god people move on.

Cade chose another school because UT has been a dumpster fire. He owes absolutely nothing to UT or any of you. Pull your panties up and worry about the ones we get and hope they develop.

 

[JettVol]

My god people move on.

Cade chose another school because UT has been a dumpster fire. He owes absolutely nothing to UT or any of you. Pull your panties up and worry about the ones we get and hope they develop.

underrated post of the day IMO.

 

[Tnmitch]

The people at fault when it comes to this are the people in Knoxville who will cheer for these kids when they turn their back on their home state and play for Clemson. Guys like Tee Higgins and Cade Mays should be ostracized for not going to UT. They should feel social pressure to represent their home state. And if they don't wanna do that then get the hell out of Tennessee and never come back.

That might be a little harsh

 

[RollerVol]

The people at fault when it comes to this are the people in Knoxville who will cheer for these kids when they turn their back on their home state and play for Clemson. Guys like Tee Higgins and Cade Mays should be ostracized for not going to UT. They should feel social pressure to represent their home state. And if they don't wanna do that then get the hell out of Tennessee and never come back.

lol:...damn..."They should fee social pressure to represent their home state"...total BS...it's their decision what is best for them...now, go play in the street...

GO VOLS!

 

[biggestvols]

I didn’t start the thread to be about Mays in particular or whether kids should go out of State or City. It’s about a relationship with a coach. You’ve got high schools all over TN that, when they have talent, steer them to TN. It’s that way all over the country. Likewise, there are relationships built with out of state high school coaches that help successfully recruit that schools talent. It doesn’t take much for a high school coach to steer a kids away or towards given their access and influence.

How many kids did TN recruit out of Tuscaloosa even when Bama was way down? Clearly Clemson has built a relationship with Matthews. Knox Catholic, like it or not, has committed to being a top notch private school program and instead of home cooking we are getting sent to KFC.

 

[Probably_in_Class]

Wrong! These kids are absolutely not mostly transplants.

Prove me wrong

 

[Probably_in_Class]

What type of "incentives" are you talking about for a high
school? Is it "recruiting" at the high school level? I have wondered over the last few years about private schools "recruiting". I see many kids playing football for them that would have no way of paying for private schooling. Are these schools "paying" these kids with tuition and other costs? Just wondering.

I'm not sure why you used quotes for so many words, but my meaning was that private schools certainly compete for talent/students. It's better for the school to say it sent X amount of students to D1 schools and those alums have won Y amount of National Championships. That's going to sound much better to an athlete than: we push everyone to UT, cause it's really close.

Catholic is regularly compared with CAK and Webb and likely is often compared with the likes of Baylor and McCallie also. That's the world of private school recruiting. I do think it's a bit presumptuous that you think you know a family's financial situation as to whether it can or cannot afford private tuition...

 

[biggestvols]

Prove me wrong

Smith, Rodgers, Mays, Kyberson are all Knoxville kids. Now, prove you right.

 

[biggestvols]

I'm not sure why you used quotes for so many words, but my meaning was that private schools certainly compete for talent/students. It's better for the school to say it sent X amount of students to D1 schools and those alums have won Y amount of National Championships. That's going to sound much better to an athlete than: we push everyone to UT, cause it's really close.

Calling BS...a superstar college athlete playing on a big stage and discussed every week in the same city as your high school is a bigger draw than...remember him, he played at Michigan when they won 10 games.