Past Decade of Vols Recruiting

[TNinSC]

I've been a member of this wonderful and amazing forum since September 2008. A lot of fun times. I originally joined volnation when the Vols began looking for a head coach to replace Coach Fulmer. With it now being a decade, I thought that I'd revisit the Vols' recruiting classes from over the past ten seasons. Lots of hits and misses. That 2015 class was so exciting and had so much promise. It really shouldn't have led to the dismal 2017 season... Not counting the current class (because the recruiting season isn't complete), Tennessee has cracked the top ten in recruiting four times and has been in the top 25 every season. Even with that amount of talent, the Vols have gone 69(w)-68(l).

The last decade of Tennessee recruiting classes. Rankings (Rivals) and top players:

2009-Fulmer/Kiffin-10th (Previous year w/l record: 5-7)
Bryce Brown (5*), Janzen Jackson (5*), Nu'Keese Richardson, Marsalis Teague

2010-Dooley: 9th (Previous year: (7-6)
Tyler Bray, Justin Hunter, Juwan James, Da'Rick Rogers (5*), Jacques Smith

2011-Dooley: 13th (Prev year: 6-7)
Justin Coleman, Maurice Couch, AJ Johnson, Curt Maggitt, Marlin Lane, Antonio Richardson

2012-Dooley: 17th (Prev year: 5-7)
Drae Bowles, Jason Croom, Pig Howard, Daniel McCullers, Cordarralle Patterson, Nathan Peterman, Dante Phillips

2013-Dooley/Jones: 21st (Prev year: 5-7)
Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Marques North, Austin Sanders

2014: Jones: 5th (Prev year: 5-7)
Derek Barnett, Evan Berry, Dillon Bates, Dontavius Blair, Rashaan Gaulden, Jalen Hurd (5*), Todd Kelly Josh Malone (5*), Cortez McDowell,

2015: Jones: 5th (Prev year: 7-6)
Venzell Boulware, Jauan Jennings, Alvin Kamara(5*), Darrin Kirkland Jr., Kahlil McKenzie (5*), Kyle Phillips (5*), Drew Richmond (5*), Quarte Sapp, Darrell Taylor, Shy Tuttle, Preston Williams

2016: Jones: 15th (Prev year: 9-4)
Daniel Bituli, Tyler Byrd, Jarrett Guarantano, Marquez Callaway, Jonathan Kongbo (5*) , Marquill Osborne, Nigel Warrior

2017: Jones: 15th (Prev year: 9-4)
Terrell Bailey, Kivon Bennett, LaTrell Bumphus, Ty Chandler, Maleik Gray, Will Ignont, Riley Locklear, Jordan Murphy, Trey Smith

2018: Pruitt: 23rd (Prev year: 4-8)
Dominick Anderson, Jeremy Banks, Emmit Gooden, , JJ Peterson, Alontae Taylor, Bryce Thompson

2019: Pruitt: 12th (Prev year: 5-7)
Warren Burrell, Quavaris Crouch, Eric Gray, Ramel Keyton, Jackson Lampley, Jaylen McCollough, Wanya Morris, Henry To'oto'o, Darnell Wright (5*)

2020: Pruitt: 9th (at the early signing period)
Dominic Bailey, Harrison Bailey, Tyler Baron, Martavius French, Morven Joseph, Keshawn Lawrence, Cooper Mays, Omari Thomas

Thoughts?...

 

[Volfanatic_20]

Pruitt wasn't apart of the 2017 class

 

[VolsdeepVFL]

What a decade....it wouldn't be a stretch to say Pruitt is already the best recruiter over this time period. His last class will turn out worlds better than either of Jones top 5 finishes.

 

[TNinSC]

Pruitt wasn't apart of the 2017 class

put it on the wrong line. he was hired in dec of 2017. my b

 

[RollerVol]

thanks TN for the time and effort...interesting info, for sure, and I just hope that Coach Pruitt and staff can eventually break all the past Vol coaches' recruiting efforts...then we can start talking about championships...

PS. Merry Christmas to you and yours and, as always...

GO BIG ORANGE!

 

[bignewt]

put it on the wrong line. he was hired in dec of 2017. my b

If this gonna devolve quickly into talking about the past failures of past coaches and "paper stars" and such I'll go ahead and deuces.

 

[sammyjoey]

Remember that time in 2012 when Dooley decided to skip recruiting OL for a year? Good times.

 

[utvols74]

I think it is interesting to see the "ebb and flows" of recruiting rankings as stability "seems" to be settling in on all things UT and what happens after disruptions. It also appears Pruitt is the true "brick-by-brick" guy and is building a program the right way.

 

[SLICKYINC]

Jordan Murphy wasn't a Pruitt commit and wasn't in the 2018 class.

How does Wanya get omitted from the top signee class of 2019?

Lettuce, Mayo and ketchup...

 

[Geaux_Vols]

Honestly, the most interesting part of this to me is that this season put us back over .500 on the decade.

 

[VolInDayton]

Dooley and Butch put too much resources in recruiting skill players / wide receivers. Pruitt knows the game is won in the trenches and being able to get to the other teams QB.

 

[allvol123]

I'm still amazed at how Khalil did nothing.

 

[Pepe]

I've been a member of this wonderful and amazing forum since September 2008. A lot of fun times. I originally joined volnation when the Vols began looking for a head coach to replace Coach Fulmer. With it now being a decade, I thought that I'd revisit the Vols' recruiting classes from over the past ten seasons. Lots of hits and misses. That 2015 class was so exciting and had so much promise. It really shouldn't have led to the dismal 2017 season... Not counting the current class (because the recruiting season isn't complete), Tennessee has cracked the top ten in recruiting four times and has been in the top 25 every season. Even with that amount of talent, the Vols have gone 69(w)-68(l).

The last decade of Tennessee recruiting classes. Rankings (Rivals) and top players:

2009-Fulmer/Kiffin-10th (Previous year w/l record: 5-7)
Bryce Brown (5*), Janzen Jackson (5*), Nu'Keese Richardson, Marsalis Teague

2010-Dooley: 9th (Previous year: (7-6)
Tyler Bray, Justin Hunter, Juwan James, Da'Rick Rogers (5*), Jacques Smith

2011-Dooley: 13th (Prev year: 6-7)
Justin Coleman, Maurice Couch, AJ Johnson, Curt Maggitt, Marlin Lane, Antonio Richardson

2012-Dooley: 17th (Prev year: 5-7)
Drae Bowles, Jason Croom, Pig Howard, Daniel McCullers, Cordarralle Nathan Peterman, Dante Phillips

2013-Dooley/Jones: 21st (Prev year: 5-7)
Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Marques North, Austin Sanders

2014: Jones: 5th (Prev year: 5-7)
Derek Barnett, Evan Berry, Dillon Bates, Dontavius Blair, Rashaan Gaulden, Jalen Hurd (5*), Todd Kelly Josh Malone (5*), Cortez McDowell,

2015: Jones: 5th (Prev year: 7-6)
Venzell Boulware, Jauan Jennings, Alvin Kamara(5*), Darrin Kirkland Jr., Kahlil McKenzie (5*), Kyle Phillips (5*), Drew Richmond (5*), Quarte Sapp, Darrell Taylor, Shy Tuttle, Preston Williams

2016: Jones: 15th (Prev year: 9-4)
Daniel Bituli, Tyler Byrd, Jarrett Guarantano, Marquez Callaway, Jonathan Kongbo (5*) , Marquill Osborne, Nigel Warrior

2017: Jones/Pruitt: 15th (Prev year: 9-4)
Terrell Bailey, Kivon Bennett, LaTrell Bumphus, Ty Chandler, Maleik Gray, Will Ignont, Riley Locklear, Trey Smith

2018: Pruitt: 23rd (Prev year: 4-8)
Dominick Anderson, Jeremy Banks, Emmit Gooden, Jordan Murphy, JJ Peterson. Alontae Taylor, Bryce Thompson

2019: Pruitt: 12th (Prev year: 5-7)
Warren Burrell, Quavaris Crouch, Eric Gray, Ramel Keyton, Jackson Lampley, Jaylen McCollough, Henry To'oto'o, Darnell Wright (5*)

2020: Pruitt: 9th (at the early signing period)
Dominic Bailey, Harrison Bailey, Tyler Baron, Martavius French, Morven Joseph, Keshawn Lawrence, Cooper Mays, Omari Thomas

Thoughts?...

I can't believe you left Wanye Morris out of the highlights last year. You're listening to show how much of a waste Kiffin's year was

 

[TNinSC]

I can't believe you left Wanye Morris out of the highlights last year

my bad. in a rush at work. will add right this very second!

 

[njvols]

I'm just glad we're back to keeping the OL and DL pipeline going. IF you don't have talented 2-3 deep on OL/DL in SEC, you're not going to win much of anything.

 

[VolunteerCeltic]

I care more about development than recruiting rankings somewhat (with the caveat that you have to recruit and sign the best athletes to fit your system). Pruitts staff clearly focused on the development of this team and the results showed, realistically UT should have been 9-3 this year, but the GA State and BYU losses may have served as wakeup calls......

 

[Devo182]

They had that 2017 class ranked 15th??

2018 will prove/is proving to be better though.

 

[headhunter15]

Man, I had high hopes for those Jones’ top 5 classes. Thought UT was about to become a world beater...

 

[MadWorld]

Missing SpaceBoy from this list. He alone, counted for more than 80% of Butch's wins. I think he was a 4-star, but prolly way outside the top 100.

 

[TNinSC]

Missing SpaceBoy from this list. He alone, counted for more than 80% of Butch's wins. I think he was a 4-star, but prolly way outside the top 100.

i didnt include any 3 *'s

 

[TNinSC]

I care more about development than recruiting rankings somewhat (with the caveat that you have to recruit and sign the best athletes to fit your system). Pruitts staff clearly focused on the development of this team and the results showed, realistically UT should have been 9-3 this year, but the GA State and BYU losses may have served as wakeup calls......

Agreed. One position that def needed coaching and developing was the WR core. We had too many good WR's over the past few years that didnt pan out. I do think Martin really helped out the WR play this past season.

 

[jkleno]

Dooley and Butch put too much resources in recruiting skill players / wide receivers. Pruitt knows the game is won in the trenches and being able to get to the other teams QB.

Yes. You can't throw the ball down the field without protection.

 

[VolAmerican]

Pruitt definitely stacked the defense so far with this class. Offense got some ballers too. One thing I wasn't counting on was Whitehead playing running back instead of linebacker. It will be interesting to see how that pans out.

 

[keenobserver]

Dontavius Blair.........

 

[volglass]

It’s interesting to see Dooley and Jones sell early and then get progressively worse once the rubber meets the road. Refreshing to see the opposite for this staff.