Losing recruiting battles to Clemson

[rexvol]

Agreed.

However, there's not a single kid in the state of Tennessee (other than Barrett Jones) ranked among the nation's top 150 prospects. And that's my point - there's no reason to complain about losing instate players in 2008 if the instate talent isn't worthy of a UT scholarship. The state doesn't have a Patrick Turner, Brandon Warren, John Henderson, or Gerald Riggs this year. It's not as if UT is losing out on high school all-americans from Tennessee.

I agree with you. What Im saying is that if Im going to take a 2* guy, why not lock up a 2* guy from Tennessee? It's not like this year we're taking a 3* guy from Tennessee and turning away a 4* from Georgia. All things being equal, take the Tennessee kid, ala' Spurlock, Walls, etc, let's at least lock those guys down.

 

[sjt18]

Rexvol, If I had to guess, they probably thought they were in better shape with others when they let Spurlock go.

But if things really go bad, you could still see them round out the class from Tn with lightly recruited kids. Who knows?

 

[noogatiger16]

I don't understand the comment about Tommy getting the crumbs from Saban, Meyer, etc.
I wouldn't call Spiller, Davis, Bowers, etc "crumbs".
About the state of TN recruits, I would agree with Jaytrain, not a big deal. It is a widely recognized opinion that UT is a school that has a national recruiting base. Kind of a strange anomoly (sp?) in my opinion with the proximity to FL, GA, AL, etc. I think it is more a history or tradition, or maybe a fulmer strategy thing more than anything else.

 

[Jaytrain5]

I don't understand the comment about Tommy getting the crumbs from Saban, Meyer, etc.
I wouldn't call Spiller, Davis, Bowers, etc "crumbs".

He was referring to the coaches that raid the state of Tennessee most frequently for recruits. Tommy Bowden isn't the biggest threat to steal instate recruits...Saban, Tuberville, and Bobby Bowden have had a lot of success pulling kids away from the state of Tennessee.

He wasn't saying that guys like Spiller, Davis, Bowers, Page, or Harper (good luck on that one) are crumbs...he was referring to the occasional kid like Merling, who signs with the Tigers out of Tennessee.

 

[kptvol]

I agree with you. What Im saying is that if Im going to take a 2* guy, why not lock up a 2* guy from Tennessee? It's not like this year we're taking a 3* guy from Tennessee and turning away a 4* from Georgia. All things being equal, take the Tennessee kid, ala' Spurlock, Walls, etc, let's at least lock those guys down.

I imagine Fulmer looked at the 2* guy from Tennessee, probably watched him play multiple times, and came away unimpressed. Fulmer knows ten times more about what it takes to make it in college football than these dorks from rivals.