Recruiting Forum Football Talk III

[jakez4ut]

I don't love the Matt Merritt at RB coach move.

UCF just hired Merritt three weeks ago from James Madison:

Report: UCF hiring JMU's Matt Merritt to coach RBs

JMU didn't play last season and this guy has virtually no recruiting history.

It's not like Merritt was part of the UCF machine - he has literally never coached a practice for them.

To bring him on when someone like Jay Graham was an option isn't the best move.

i'll agree with that, while at the same time saying, it's not the end of the world either.

 

[johnfnkelly]

Pruitt had big names all along his staff and they were all mostly cheeks on the field.

 

[FBtime]

Hi, Pete.

 

[KB5252]

He’s bringing the entire offensive side per UCF...

And why wouldn’t he? They have done very well.

I think not going on the market and finding an ace recruiter for that side of the ball is a huge mistake. They haven't recruited well there, now they're swimming with sharks. I don't mind him bringing his own guys, don't get me wrong, but that's a huge hole in his offensive staff at this level I'm afraid.

 

[OSVolFan]

Recruiting is about relationships and potential for a player. Going to be tough to establish and beat out existing relationships these kids already have. I expect we will likely miss out on the majority but that isn't an indictment of this coach just yet. Tough to sell right now and for the foreseeable future.

All I needed to see was this:

Elite QB Ty Simpson- "It is very intriguing. Love his offense."

 

[vol81]

Chaney loves Knoxville and since he is under contract let him be an analyst unless he wants to take a job somewhere else and mitigate the remaining part of his contract that we owe him.

Not to be Capt Obvious, but the DC hire looms large and must be the next hire. JH will let his DC have input (I would think) on who is hired to coach defense. So it has to be the next hire since the O side is pretty much done.
I think Steele still has a chance to be DC. I hope he makes the hire by the weekend, and more importantly makes the correct hire for his team and the program.

 

[tnhunter 10]

Butchs best staff was the staff he brought from Cincinnati. A HC needs to trust his assistant coaches and not have them forced upon him.

 

[UTMVol76]

DC hire is everything

 

[daugag02]

i'll agree with that, while at the same time saying, it's not the end of the world either.

True.

In 3 years Merritt has gone from Elon to Tennessee. Hope he's ready for it.

 

[vol81]

I think not going on the market and finding an ace recruiter for that side of the ball is a huge mistake. They haven't recruited well there, now they're swimming with sharks. I don't mind him bringing his own guys, don't get me wrong, but that's a huge hole in his offensive staff at this level I'm afraid.

Kodi Burns is a very good recruiter, and a rising star. He hasnt been at UCF but a couple weeks. He was at Auburn with Gus.
He was on the Auburn NC team from about a decade ago; was a QB and then became a WR.

 

[SSVol]

Pruitt had big names all along his staff and they were all mostly cheeks on the field.

Like this guy?!? That explains the poor performance.

 

[engineerVOL]

Forget names on offense. I want a staff that works well together. Period.

This can’t be understated. History here says this first staff is probably going to be the most cohesive. Dools, Butch, Pruitt.

 

[volswillrise12]

5 players versus 22. Pretty big difference, but some coaches do more with less. We can't drop off in recruiting if we want to be successful though. At least at the level of success that I want to achieve.

Yeah exactly which is why I said “I hate to compare it to basketball”—no we can’t slip in recruiting
the fact is we are still landing in the Top 25 in recruiting—we aren’t in that Top 1-10 consistently because we haven’t been as good. I’d say it says a lot for the recruiting infrastructure and the facilities and all the bells and whistles of Tennessee football that we able to get the types of athletes we get. In some cases in recruiting we may need to find some diamonds in the rough and develop some talent.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

That's actually a great article that has some ugly truth about us Vol fans and some good insight into Heupel from his former bosses. We deserve the shots he took. Just look at the responses to the story on Twitter.

**** him...He is just an ******* taking lazy pathetic shots at the most loyal and passionate fanbase in college sports.

 

[Jimmy Football]

This is UT we are talking about here. Trying to quantify our leadership making one bad financial decision after another is maddening.

I know. This is one of the worst. Multi-decade careers have ended over less expensive mistakes.

I mean, if you’re gonna pay him, keep him around doing something. He’d probably make a good defensive analyst for a coach that’s less knowledgeable on that side of the ball.

 

[GRRN7MAXIMS]

Our defense is going to be rough for a little bit no matter who gets the keys. I don't want a overall tiny Big 12 style defense..that will absolutely not work against the better teams in the SEC.

Agreed. I just want someone willing to be exotic on defense with SEC sized players. IT WILL TAKE TIME!

 

[BIGORANGEBUBBA]

He

Like this guy?!? That explains the poor performance.

View attachment 346380

Hey it's the booger eater!

 

[pierce60]

I don't love the Matt Merritt at RB coach move.

UCF just hired Merritt three weeks ago from James Madison:

Report: UCF hiring JMU's Matt Merritt to coach RBs

JMU didn't play last season and this guy has virtually no recruiting history.

It's not like Merritt was part of the UCF machine - he has literally never coached a practice for them.

To bring him on when someone like Jay Graham was an option isn't the best move.

That’s assuming Graham wanted to stay.

 

[I4Jay]

Pruitt had big names all along his staff and they were all mostly cheeks on the field.

I’m going to attribute all of that to Jurmy Pruitt.
Every single one of those guys could coach.
Jurmy was a bad people person and bad head football coach.

 

[johnfnkelly]

My favorite JH stat.

In 2 seasons under Coach Heupel..Dillon Gabriel threw for 7,223 yards and 61 TDs. THAT WOULD PUT HIM 5TH ALL TIME AT TENNESSEE FOR BOTH CATEGORIES.

If JH can replicate just 3/4 of those numbers at UT with Salter/ Bailey.. then watch out.

 

[FBtime]

I think not going on the market and finding an ace recruiter for that side of the ball is a huge mistake. They haven't recruited well there, now they're swimming with sharks. I don't mind him bringing his own guys, don't get me wrong, but that's a huge hole in his offensive staff at this level I'm afraid.

Frost did not recruit well at all at UCF and went on to recruit decently at Nebraska. I have no doubt their (UCF offensive staff) history of player development will resonate with recruits. Kodi Burns is the likely WR coach and he has been at Auburn for the last 4 years and is a strong recruiter.

 

[KB5252]

Kodi Burns is a very good recruiter, and a rising star. He hasnt been at UCF but a couple weeks. He was at Auburn with Gus.
He was on the Auburn NC team from about a decade ago; was a QB and then became a WR.

That makes me feel a little better then.

 

[05_never_again]

Interesting take from the doomer today. Why did CFB need to be cancelled way before a decision had to made, but talk of cancelling an athletic event that will have thousands of people traveling in from all over the world is premature, and a decision about it should be pushed to the last minute?

I don't mind in the slightest seeing opinions I disagree with. I don't even mind "bad takes." What grinds my gears is the hypocrisy, or coming to two totally different conclusions based on the same or a similar set of facts.

 

[Smokeytom]

Tennessee basketball has the 68th ranked offense and 2nd ranked defense. Crazy.

Told my brother the other day that we’ve gone from a Bruce Pearl offense dropping 100+ to a Cuonzo offense struggling for 70 seemingly overnight. Don’t get it.

 

[jakez4ut]

I think not going on the market and finding an ace recruiter for that side of the ball is a huge mistake. They haven't recruited well there, now they're swimming with sharks. I don't mind him bringing his own guys, don't get me wrong, but that's a huge hole in his offensive staff at this level I'm afraid.

i can't get upset about that. is it something to pay attention to for later on? maybe.

but if you're basing their recruiting acumen on how they fared nationally, then i'd say that's probably the wrong measuring stick, simply because UCF isn't winning head to heads with SEC/ACC powerhouses for top 200 kids....

but if you look at it relative to their competition level as a G5 program in the AAC, i think you'll find they've done pretty well and competed favorably in their peer group.

it is a different animal here....no disagreement. and i don't have any expectation for closing the 21 class. and i'll acknowledge that they have their work cut out for the 22 classs.....but....that they've never recruited at this level doesn't mean they can't.

and what should a realistic expectation be anyway? for these guys, simply being at TN will open some doors for them that wouldn't at UCF....so there's going to be organic improvement in recruiting for them.

siap...i think a staff that shows some competence on the field can consistent recruit well inside the top 20/15 nationally here....

and we have no idea on the defensive side of the ball yet.

tl/dr version...let's not put the cart before the horse. we don't know what they can/can't do yet.