'25 Portal Thread

[CAVPUT]

I don’t think we’re dependent on it. Ole Miss and others are but not us.

I just want to see them burn so I want more player attrition for them.

Unless we get better at evals or change the staff, I suspect we'll rely more heavily on it going forward.

 

[Orange_Crush]

I sense tension. You two need to settle it at the Waffle House.

No need for all that. He could have explained and we could have discussed. Or he could have chosen to just carry a grudge on an online football forum for a few months, apparently. No biggie in my book.

For clarity, I genuinely had no idea what his reply to me was saying. Agreeing? Disagreeing? Sarcasm? Kudo? Who knows?

 

[therickbol]

Booooooooooooooo. We need a proven WR. Don’t care about Benson. Just hoped we’d get Branch. Don’t know where we’ll turn now.

I don't see how you can file Branch under the heading of "proven WR" because if what he has done production wise in college qualifies as "proven" then there are lots of those.

 

[CAVPUT]

Per the OL. They have been here 4 years. OL take time to develop, especially considering the "sanctions" part of my response. They admitted last year that they were dealing with terrible negative recruiting until the NCAA ordeal was put to bed.

And that's really the root of my biggest issue with posts like yours. "Poor recruiting/evaluation is their fault."

Well, I'd say they worked their ***es off to find the best players for their system that were willing to take a chance on them at the time, and developed them enough to win more than we'd have likely dared to dream.

Or, one can say, "They've probably done a great job, all things considered, and with what they were dealing with." And that would include every position, not just OL or WR.

Each of us has a choice about what perspective we'll bring to these issues.

As for the threat of sanctions hindering our recruiting efforts, you make a valid point. I'll admit that I probably haven't given that as much weight as I should have. It will be interesting to see how some of the talent we've brought in the last couple of years in recruiting and our portal players pan out. One would think we should start seeing some fruits of those efforts IF our staff can eval and develop, no?

 

[Weezer]

No need for all that. He could have explained and we could have discussed. Or he could have chosen to just carry a grudge on an online football forum for a few months, apparently. No biggie in my book.

For clarity, I genuinely had no idea what his reply to me was saying. Agreeing? Disagreeing? Sarcasm? Kudo? Who knows?

 

[CAVPUT]

Booooooooooooooo. We need a proven WR. Don’t care about Benson. Just hoped we’d get Branch. Don’t know where we’ll turn now.

Curious. What's the negative on Benson?

 

[therickbol]

Speaks a lot to that young man’s character. He’s looking out for his future as he should.

But it sure makes our emotional fragility more justified if we can just keep referring to them all as short-minded chasing selfish kids.

 

[Brillovol]

How/why do people keep being surprised by this? Some version of it has been said for years now when it comes to recruiting.

Just my observation based on personalities, but Saban and Kirby were/are the ringleaders in this area. Saban’s gone, so we only have to combat Kirby and our own dumb legion of the miserable on the socials.

 

[Orange_Crush]

As for the threat of sanctions hindering our recruiting efforts, you make a valid point. I'll admit that I probably haven't given that as much weight as I should have. It will be interesting to see how some of the talent we've brought in the last couple of years in recruiting and our portal players pan out. One would think we should start seeing some fruits of those efforts IF our staff can eval and develop, no?

Agreed. And agreed.

Peace out, hermano!

 

[tatervol]

Serious question everyone, with 'patience' as a subject this morning:

When we fired the Pruit Gang, under investigation for paying players, with the mass exodus of players, leaving almost no talent...

If someone had told you we'd get three 10 win seasons in the next four years, barely missing the playoffs in one of those years and making the playoffs in another...

Would you have:

(1) Run the messenger out of the forum as a crazy person?
(2) Taken it with overflowing gratitude?
(3) Blamed the incoming staff for not giving us more?

3 10 win seasons? Huge vols fans don’t even know our record lmao.

Heuple has done a great job there is no reason to lie

 

[therickbol]

Curious. What's the negative on Benson?

They are both fairly similar. Very impressive athletic ability. Elite speed and explosiveness. But on the football field they both have shown to be more track athlete than football player. Not everyone that is super athletic can translate it to the football field.

 

[Brillovol]

Happened at Dtackle too...Norman Lott is projected as a late 1st or 2nd rounder. 2 sacks vs Bama were HUGE.

All these sorry azz Negas on Twitter, FB, and here trashing this program, the coaches, AD, collectives etc SO MUCH that it is actually causing drama and recruits asking about it....and all this staff did LAST YEAR in the portal was:

Get freshman All American CB McCoy...now All SEC, 3rd team AA here.

Get freshman All American WR Brazzell who started all season, 2 years left

Get Omar N.Lott. showed out, 1st or 2nd round draft pick coming up

Get Kitselman. Best TE and best hands on team. Also best blocker at TE. Is TE1

Get 5* Left Tackle Heard. Improved all season. Starter next year with 2 to play

Get Jacobe Thomas Safety, injured but expected to contribute next year

Who did I miss? I know I missed someone..but just those 6 guys above us is killing the portal. Killing it. We are just now getting started in the portal this year. The 2 guys we have so far are a great start though. We have put 16 or 17 guys in the portal...and there are only 2 backup pieces we likely wanted to keep. Backup LB and backup CB. Everyone else was a UT or mutual decision. We have resigned everyone else which is priority #1.

This staff has been outstanding at improving recruiting and the roster every season. 16 out of 25 guys in the 2025 class are bluechips ranked in the Top300 recruits. 16 for 25. Wish the NegaVols would go cheer for bama or the pups. They are a festering boil on the azz of our fanbase.

This post should be its own thread in the RF and FF forums and stickied.

 

[therickbol]

It's the coaches fault that we don't have more talent than UGA and OSU right now? We made the playoffs. We have three 10 win seasons in 4 years for the first time in 20-25 years, and we've been figured out by the DCs out there?


Four
Years
Since
We
Were
Left
For
Dead,
Recruiting
With
The
Threat
Of
Sanctions.


IT
TAKES
TIME!


We
Are
Ahead
Of
Schedule
People!

Maybe by "coaches' fault", you're talking about the conveyor belt of staffs that made us an industry laughing stock for the past 25 years. The ones that this staff have saved us from? SURELY, that's who you're talking about.

Some people love to make the same mistakes over and over again. They refuse to learn from them.

 

[Orange_Crush]

3 10 win seasons? Huge vols fans don’t even know our record lmao.

Heuple has done a great job there is no reason to lie

Good point. My bad. I'm not sure that misspeaking average # wins over thee years would equate to a 'lie', but good points nonetherless.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

AP gets too much hate IMO

Yep. That is exactly what he said also...its the 1st question in the 1st minute of the Thursday morning VQ mailbag podcast on the tube. I posted a link in the portal thread thu morning right after it dropped fwiw. Bout 9am Thursday

** edit: whats funny is AP didn't do what he usually ALWAYS does on these podcasts when asked about a player/changing situation....he always says "As of this taping, at 4pm on Wed, Player A looks like they're staying.." he always does. Didnt do that for the Thursday mailbag show but they always tape on Wednesday afternoon or evening. The fact that there was no mention of OSU or them wrecking Oregon speaks volumes also...doesnt really matter when he recorded it honestly because what he said was true: IF Matthews entered the portal, the chance of him staying was slim to none. MM never entered officially

 

[Dadof2Vols]

I believe Eric mentioned that UT can be patient because of the semester calendar and has one of the latest add/drop dates of all schools. Now that UT has a winter mini-term, the spring semester doesn’t even start until late January. UT students now get about 6 weeks off for the holiday break.

Semester Starts Tuesday Jan 21

 

[CNeagleVolFan]

Sucks to not have any visitors this weekend. I hope we get some next week.

 

[jvols1999]

Yes, no names mentioned but said they will be attending men's and women's games

Still?

 

[Carp]

If the kid is good, teams will find out anyways.

It's not that teams didn't know he was good. It just seems like LSU thought they might get a visit before he made a decision. When he got predicted to sign here, LSU panicked and waved around a fat bag so he wouldn't sign here.

 

[barrylee]

Yep. That is exactly what he said also...its the 1st question in the 1st minute of the Thursday morning VQ mailbag podcast on the tube. I posted a link in the portal thread thu morning right after it dropped fwiw. Bout 9am Thursday

** edit: whats funny is AP didn't do what he usually ALWAYS does on these podcasts when asked about a player/changing situation....he always says "As of this taping, at 4pm on Wed, Player A looks like they're staying.." he always does. Didnt do that for the Thursday mailbag show but they always tape on Wednesday afternoon or evening. The fact that there was no mention of OSU or them wrecking Oregon speaks volumes also...doesnt really matter when he recorded it honestly because what he said was true: IF Matthews entered the portal, the chance of him staying was slim to none. MM never entered officially

Think you better listen again, he did say as of now.

 

[Jack Burton]

Serious question everyone, with 'patience' as a subject this morning:

When we fired the Pruit Gang, under investigation for paying players, with the mass exodus of players, leaving almost no talent...

If someone had told you we'd get three 10 win seasons in the next four years, barely missing the playoffs in one of those years and making the playoffs in another...

Would you have:

(1) Run the messenger out of the forum as a crazy person?
(2) Taken it with overflowing gratitude?
(3) Blamed the incoming staff for not giving us more?

#1 for sure.

 

[Vol423]

I don't see how you can file Branch under the heading of "proven WR" because if what he has done production wise in college qualifies as "proven" then there are lots of those.

 

[barney]

We got a good one. Danny can hire basketball coaches.

 

[CAVPUT]

They are both fairly similar. Very impressive athletic ability. Elite speed and explosiveness. But on the football field they both have shown to be more track athlete than football player. Not everyone that is super athletic can translate it to the football field.

Ah...Leonard Scott syndrome.

 

[Checker_the_Shire]

Any word on who, if any, visitors are there at the game? I feel like we were told they’d be in for the games this weekend.