"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.
