Recruiting Football Talk VII

[jave36]

I have plenty of more important areas in my life where I need to think critically and have a pragmatic outlook. I have UT football for the joy and hopefulness that it brings to me. I enjoy pumping sunshine here, because if it doesn't turn out to actually be sunny for UT football my life really isn't affected all that much. Other areas of my life are much more important and can have a much more meaningful impact on me and my family. Thinking critically about a football team is silly in my opinion. Just enjoy the good times and let the bad ones roll off your back. It really doesn't mean that much when taken in perspective of life as a whole.

I can't even fathom this line of thinking. There's never been something where I said I'd intentionally not think logically or critically about it. I definitely unintentionally neglect to think logically or critically about something, but never on purpose.

 

[Glitch]

Someone should just make new player threads in the future every time he posts one.

New threads you say? It is @Glitch's time to shine!

 

[Glitch]

Apparently I missed out on something. Dammit.

 

[Smyrna ATL Vol]

Replace Karic with Tate (holding out hope) and one or two of those secondary guys with another portal addition.

Yup. And don’t count out Jalen Smith at linebacker. Dude is a monster and needed time in the weight room. But he is very instinctual and will be a factor once he changes his body.

 

[Jackcrevol]

Solid as a rock.

 

[therickbol]

Me neither. I put those people on ignore.

I’m pretty much a homer in 75% of my posts.

I don’t understand the fans who can’t think critically and do nothing but pump sunshine.

Is it possible to to more obtuse and have so little self-awareness. Orrrrr.....is that post knowingly off-base as a part of his shtick?

 

[Glitch]

Solid as a rock.

At least as solid as a sponge.

 

[thistime]

I have plenty of more important areas in my life where I need to think critically and have a pragmatic outlook. I have UT football for the joy and hopefulness that it brings to me. I enjoy pumping sunshine here, because if it doesn't turn out to actually be sunny for UT football my life really isn't affected all that much. Other areas of my life are much more important and can have a much more meaningful impact on me and my family. Thinking critically about a football team is silly in my opinion. Just enjoy the good times and let the bad ones roll off your back. It really doesn't mean that much when taken in perspective of life as a whole.

Some people go way to overboard about stuff. I have been a VOL fan forever, always will be, I've seen the good the bad and the ugly. It's always been one thing.....young men playing a game. Enjoy the wins get disappointed when things don't go our way but other than bragging rights what else do you really gain.......

 

[knoxvol52]

I have plenty of more important areas in my life where I need to think critically and have a pragmatic outlook. I have UT football for the joy and hopefulness that it brings to me. I enjoy pumping sunshine here, because if it doesn't turn out to actually be sunny for UT football my life really isn't affected all that much. Other areas of my life are much more important and can have a much more meaningful impact on me and my family. Thinking critically about a football team is silly in my opinion. Just enjoy the good times and let the bad ones roll off your back. It really doesn't mean that much when taken in perspective of life as a whole.

Well stated sir, some tend to forget it's only a GAME not life or death....

 

[ViperVol86]

Pain.

Dam if you would’ve hit this and not shared it with me before I’d be pissed. Well maybe jealous but still same thing lol

 

[Weezer]

While Tennessee needs to recruit inside the Top 10 annually, it’s hard to deny that this class is solid/elite.

Definitely solid. Not quite elite. It's not wrong to say it could be better. Still need to address the DL. Hopefully we can sway McKinley and get him in the boat for February.

 

[thistime]

FSU had the chance to join the SEC years ago. Bobby Bowden said he wanted to play for National Championships not SEC Championships. He knew how tough it was, now in someways their whole league has become an after thought.

 

[SugarCC]

"Can't close" people, if you will, join me for some context...

I preface this with, none of us know the NIL aspect/what was offered by each school, for any of these kids. For any one of them, if we offered 1 million, and another school offered 2 million, to "close", should we have offered 3 million? Did we truly "miss" or "whiff" in the traditional sense, if a school threw the bank at someone we decided not to? Do I really need to be "concerned", "worried", "troubled" if a kid chose someone else, all because they got beaucoup dollars to go there, and we decided to spend our money elsewhere? I'm not saying this is the story for all kids...some just didn't want to be a Vol and went somewhere else, because of a hundred different other reasons.

I looked at each kid, within the top 300 of the 247 composite, that we had a bit of traction with/finished in the top 2 or 3 with. However, here's a point to that...as i said earlier, AP hasn't had his finger nowhere near the pulse of this year's group; so, who really knows if we were or weren't factors for few/some/many of them. I'm not sh!tting on Price, I've always put a lot of stock into what he says; but, anyone who thinks he's been anywhere close to aces this cycle, hasn't been paying attention, at all.

With that...

#2 Williams Nwaneri (Missouri) - from Missouri, and got paid (what I'm assuming is a sh!t ton) day 1 of his commitment.

#11 Jordan Seaton (Hasn't signed) - if he chooses Colorado or Maryland, we join Bama and Ohio St in not being able to close with him. If he chooses Maryland, he's from there, and they've been recruiting him since he was a freshman; two advantages they have from jump on us. If he sticks with Colorado, I'm all ears on how we could have closed different...that's a whole other...thing...to combat.

#16 Sammy Brown (Clemson) - was ALWAYS going to Clemson. Imo, the only school that had a snowballs chance to prevent that was UGA.

#20 Mike Matthews (Vol) - closed.

#21 Bryant Wesco (Clemson) - committed in June, and never waivered. Canceled OVs to us, LSU, and TCU to commit to Clemson. Also, hate them as much as we want, they are still 169-43, with 8 ACC Titles, and 2 National Titles under Dabo.

#24 Ryan Wingo (Texas) - whenever someone says, "unlimited resources/NIL"...Texas is the face in that picture; not to mention, Sarkisian is recruiting like gangbusters, and they are in the playoffs.

#27 Dominick McKinley (Hasn't signed)

#33 Jordan Ross (Vol) - closed.

#37 Elijah Rushing (Oregon) - was ALWAYS going to Oregon, even when he was going to Arizona. Oregon ALWAYS led. To even get into the conversation, at that time, was a testament to our staff.

#40 Chris Cole (UGA) - went to Georgia...enough said.

#52 Kam Franklin (Ole Miss) - we know now that Ole Miss has opened the bank...also, the kid is from Mississippi. However, I thought we had a good shot at him. Imo, we have reached the first prospect, where "closing" may have some merit.

#53 Jaden Reddell (UGA) - went to Georgia, AND he's a TE. More than enough said.

#79 Amaris Williams (Auburn) - Auburn has been known for years, being able to pull such kids. Still, baffling to me that we couldn't get him back to campus. Never made an OV, if I'm not mistaken...according to 247, he visited in May; so, were we ever truly players for him?

#86 Cai Bates (FSU) - The second prospect that "closing" may have merit. Still, FSU did just go undefeated.

#103 Kam Mikell (Colorado) - again, a completely different aspect to combat. If Deion is really filling black kid's heads with race, and it's a BIG part of his sell's pitch, and they're buying it...seriously, what else can Heupel do?? Also, UGA couldn't "close" him, neither.

#120 Kam Fountain (USC) - The third prospect that "closing" may have some merit...however, his commitment was out of the blue and odd; not to mention his mom sh!tting on the school.

#128 Jake Merklinger (Vol) - closed.

#131 Tylen Singleton (LSU) - the fourth prospect that "closing" may have some merit...but, with an asterisk. He's from Louisiana, and it can be about damn near impossible to pull those kids away.

#139 Danny Okoye (Oklahoma) - kid is from Oklahoma, and he's the #1 prospect in the state. Was ALWAYS going there, imo.

#140 Braylon Staley (Vol) - closed.

#144 Boo Carter (Vol) - closed.

#146 Amari Jefferson (Bama) - went to Bama, enough said.

#148 Bennett Warren (Vol) - closed.

#152 Kaleb Beasley (Vol) - closed.

#157 Peyton Lewis (Vol) - closed.

#176 Daniel Hill (Hasn't signed)

#207 Jonathan Echols (USF) - I'm sure we didn't want to lose him; but, imo, the staff wasn't hurting themselves trying to prevent it.

#219 William Satterwhite (Vol) - closed.

#246 Marques Easley (UGA) - went to Georgia. Enough said.

#275 Max LeBlanc (OSU) - we come to the fifth and final prospect that "closing" may have a bit of merit; however, the kid did go to Ohio St...a place that has a great claim for elite status; although, imo they're just a notch below Bama and UGA at very VERY good, maybe great.

And, finally, #298 Max Anderson (Vol) - closed.

That's 31 prospects out of the top 300, that we were in on (to varying degrees with each), and we CLOSED on 10 of them...and, according to what's being said, in a good to great place for 2 more.

Take it however you will.

 

[TrippieRedd]

Dam if you would’ve hit this and not shared it with me before I’d be pissed. Well maybe jealous but still same thing lol

I wasn’t confident in the Dwight Powell pick Saw he was starting, but the Mavs rolled out Hardaway instead in the 2nd half. So I knew it was over then and there.

 

[ViperVol86]

I wasn’t confident in the Dwight Powell pick Saw he was starting, but the Mavs rolled out Hardaway instead in the 2nd half. So I knew it was over then and there.

I missed a 7 leg but one guy needing one more point smh it hurt lol

 

[Outofmyvolcanmind]

"We have the second highest rated class according to avg stars per commit in the country. Big things happening!" Deion probably.

 

[Weezer]

Interesting:

#1 Jeremaih Smith OSU
#11 Jordan Seaton Colo
#12 Ryan Williams Bama
#19 Terry Bussey A&M
#27 Dominick McKinley A&M
#90 Dealyn Evans A&M

All top 100 guys that are committed and unsigned.

Smith has reaffirmed his commitment to OSU, but there is worry that Miami has been in his ear.

The Seaton drama has been covered in his thread.

Don't know what's going on with Williams and Bama.

The A&M guys are all from Jimbo getting fired and position coaches moving on.

 

[Weezer]

Didn't he enter the transfer portal? Is the portal infected too? This dude is sick.

Never actually entered, so the portal should be clean.

TWSS

 

[butchna]

Well, you're completely misrepresenting the conversation on the podcast.

They were answering a loaded question, so obviously they were discussing it. They agreed that there were some fall-throughs late, but then discussed opinions as to why that may be, while agreeing that late misses happen to pretty much every staff.

Some reasons:

This is a great class, and a lot of fans are undervaluing it.
Staff's recruiting style of not pressuring.
The fact that UT were late on a lot of these guys, so you can't really fault them for incomplete hail Maries.
The possibility that Spyre's reputation may create a bad impression here. i.e. Recruits know that Spyre is reputed to have a lot of money, so some recruits will use UT just to drive up NIL moneys elsewhere.


It was in no way a "This staff sucks at closing and it needs to get fixed. Boy, EdEcEcko77 on Vol Nation is right on, everyone over there really should show him more respect, and the place would improve if they all took him off of ignore" conversation.

Story in the Athletic details Ryan Day’s turmoil yesterday. Cliff notes: In July, Ohio State had potentially the greatest DL and WR classes in history all but guaranteed. Then Dylan Stewart committed to SCjr and Miami poached 5 star DL Justin Scott and 4 star RB Jordan Lyle. Oregon swooped and flipped 4 star WR Jeremiah McClellan. So you have a still heavily loaded class down to two players decision whether it’s considered “great” or “disaster”. #1 overall WR Jeremiah Smith and 5 star DL Eddrick Houston. Miami was primed to steal Smith and Houston was close to signing with Bama. Legendary Larry Johnson has been killing it for years as DL coach, but he’s 72 and opposing coaches are using that in negative recruiting more and more successfully the past few seasons. So Day’s talking about his class and glancing at two different assistants throughout for the final word. Ends up landing both and it looks like he finished giving birth.

When Mullen was considered this grand prize the Gators won, myself and other “Mehlens” who doubted his recruiting ability, had to accept the “I thought he couldn’t recruit!” every time the Gators landed a commitment…and we saw what eventually happened there. It’s a not so fine line between identifying players who fit what you need and signing/developing them and the cartoon arms race over nerd identified ESSENTIALS. Loaded roster that can’t beat Michigan completed a top 5 class, yet in the same article preaches what Day will need to steal from the portal to stay competitive. Every year Heupel increases the talent on this team and it’s sustainable. Garner no longer goes all-in on a Jay Hardy or Walter Nolen because they are not…sustainable. Every time a self-purported team building expert places a timeline on when Heupel should start sweating, remember that we’ve seen what doesn’t work in Knoxville and have advance warning of the signs…we’re never surprised! There’s nothing like that in this program. I’m on the record.

 

[DD4ME]

Saw that, kind of scary what people can and will do now.

 

[DD4ME]

Basically this. It’s not unfair to make comments occasionally that the staff needs to be a bit better if we want to be an elite program. But the incessant whining can just be exhausting. I don’t understand “fans” who do nothing but complain.

Yahtzee

 

[butchna]

Good class, not great...Great classes are top 5 and above

Hear that bell ring? A nerd just got it’s wings!

 

[drvenner]

Based on that photo, he is no doubt a pre-madonna.

 

[jakez4ut]

"Can't close" people, if you will, join me for some context...

I preface this with, none of us know the NIL aspect/what was offered by each school, for any of these kids. For any one of them, if we offered 1 million, and another school offered 2 million, to "close", should we have offered 3 million? Did we truly "miss" or "whiff" in the traditional sense, if a school threw the bank at someone we decided not to? Do I really need to be "concerned", "worried", "troubled" if a kid chose someone else, all because they got beaucoup dollars to go there, and we decided to spend our money elsewhere? I'm not saying this is the story for all kids...some just didn't want to be a Vol and went somewhere else, because of a hundred different other reasons.

I looked at each kid, within the top 300 of the 247 composite, that we had a bit of traction with/finished in the top 2 or 3 with. However, here's a point to that...as i said earlier, AP hasn't had his finger nowhere near the pulse of this year's group; so, who really knows if we were or weren't factors for few/some/many of them. I'm not sh!tting on Price, I've always put a lot of stock into what he says; but, anyone who thinks he's been anywhere close to aces this cycle, hasn't been paying attention, at all.

With that...

#2 Williams Nwaneri (Missouri) - from Missouri, and got paid (what I'm assuming is a sh!t ton) day 1 of his commitment.

#11 Jordan Seaton (Hasn't signed) - if he chooses Colorado or Maryland, we join Bama and Ohio St in not being able to close with him. If he chooses Maryland, he's from there, and they've been recruiting him since he was a freshman; two advantages they have from jump on us. If he sticks with Colorado, I'm all ears on how we could have closed different...that's a whole other...thing...to combat.

#16 Sammy Brown (Clemson) - was ALWAYS going to Clemson. Imo, the only school that had a snowballs chance to prevent that was UGA.

#20 Mike Matthews (Vol) - closed.

#21 Bryant Wesco (Clemson) - committed in June, and never waivered. Cancealed OVs to us, LSU, and TCU to commit to Clemson. Also, hate them as much as we want, they are still 169-43, with 8 ACC Titles, and 2 National Titles under Dabo.

#24 Ryan Wingo (Texas) - whenever someone says, "unlimited resources/NIL"...Texas is the face in that picture; not to mention, Sarkisian is recruiting like gangbusters, and they are in the playoffs.

#27 Dominick McKinley (Hasn't signed)

#33 Jordan Ross (Vol) - closed.

#37 Elijah Rushing (Oregon) - was ALWAYS going to Oregon, even when he was going to Arizona. Oregon ALWAYS led. To even get into the conversation, at that time, was a testament to our staff.

#40 Chris Cole (UGA) - went to Georgia...enough said.

#52 Kam Franklin (Ole Miss) - we know now that Ole Miss has opened the bank...also, the kid is from Mississippi. However, I thought we had a good shot at him. Imo, we have reached the first prospect, where "closing" may have some merit.

#53 Jaden Reddell (UGA) - went to Georgia, AND he's a TE. More than enough said.

#79 Amaris Williams (Auburn) - Auburn has been known for years, being able to pull such kids. Still, baffling to me that we couldn't get him back to campus. Never made an OV, if I'm not mistaken...according to 247, he visited in May; so, were we ever truly players for him?

#86 Cai Bates (FSU) - The second prospect that "closing" may have merit. Still, FSU did just go undefeated.

#103 Kam Mikell (Colorado) - again, a completely different aspect to combat. If Deion is really filling black kid's heads with race, and it's a BIG part of his sell's pitch, and they're buying it...seriously, what else can Heupel do?? Also, UGA couldn't "close" him, neither.

#120 Kam Fountain (USC) - The third prospect that "closing" may have some merit...however, his commitment was out of the blue and odd; not to mention his mom sh!tting on the school.

#128 Jake Merklinger (Vol) - closed.

#131 Tylen Singleton (LSU) - the fourth prospect that "closing" may have some merit...but, with an asterisk. He's from Louisiana, and it can be about damn near impossible to pull those kids away.

#139 Danny Okoye (Oklahoma) - kid is from Oklahoma, and he's the #1 prospect in the state. Was ALWAYS going there, imo.

#140 Braylon Staley (Vol) - closed.

#144 Boo Carter (Vol) - closed.

#146 Amari Jefferson (Bama) - went to Bama, enough said.

#148 Bennett Warren (Vol) - closed.

#152 Kaleb Beasley (Vol) - closed.

#157 Peyton Lewis (Vol) - closed.

#176 Daniel Hill (Hasn't signed)

#207 Jonathan Echols (USF) - I'm sure we didn't want to lose him; but, imo, the staff wasn't hurting themselves trying to prevent it.

#219 William Satterwhite (Vol) - closed.

#246 Marques Easley (UGA) - went to Georgia. Enough said.

#275 Max LeBlanc (OSU) - we come to the fifth and final prospect that "closing" may have a bit of merit; however, the kid did go to Ohio St...a place that has a great claim for elite status; although, imo they're just a notch below Bama and UGA at very VERY good, maybe great.

And, finally, #298 Max Anderson (Vol) - closed.

That's 31 prospects out of the top 300, that we were in on (to varying degrees with each), and we CLOSED on 10 of them...and, according to what's being said, in a good to great place for 2 more.

Take it however you will.

i agree with the merit of this post, but i think Jefferson was a prospect that we didn't close on. it was either us or Bama. i'll concede this one depends on how much you believe we had a shot to begin with, as it was rumored all along that Bama was the "dream" school. i just think with an in state kid that TN obviously put priority on, it was a miss. and as thin as we are at TE, there's no way we wanted to lose Echols, especially considering how long he'd been in the boat.

none of this changes my opinion that i think this class is generally being undervalued by some, and it's our best class, i think, in quite some time. i think it's better than Butch's class that finished 4th.

 

[Glitch]

View attachment 603888


Some people go way to overboard about stuff. I have been a VOL fan forever, always will be, I've seen the good the bad and the ugly. It's always been one thing.....young men playing a game. Enjoy the wins get disappointed when things don't go our way but other than bragging rights what else do you really gain.......

If more folks ate their skittles on a regular basis we would be better off.