Recruiting Forum Football Talk III

[jave36]

Composite talent rankings, to begin with. The inevitable Vegas line that will be set at 6.5 wins to end with.

We out recruit those teams every single season. Only in the Fall do our fans like to magically pretend we are years behind them. We've been behind those teams in coaching. And if Heupel loses to less talented teams, the same will be true.

How many of those recruits are still on our team? How many were developed as well as our competition? How many times did we cover last year?

 

[Kingston Vol]

2010 and 2013.

2014 had about 10+ NFL players on the roster, although many were young. But 5 stars at several positions.

2018 had a pro player at almost every position, except QB and RB. Secondary was a bit of a mess but had freshmen Taylor and Thompson.

Strange takes.

2010 is up there as well.

2014, as you said, was a young team.

2018 was bad - Butch didn't leave much for Pruitt.

 

[Devo182]

2010 and 2013.

2014 had about 10+ NFL players on the roster, although many were young. But 5 stars at several positions.

2018 had a pro player at almost every position, except QB and RB. Secondary was a bit of a mess but had freshmen Taylor and Thompson.

Strange takes.

2013 has to take the cake, at least for my lifetime.

Outside of an elite OL, we returned a historically poor and slow defense, no QB, no one to throw it to (though a couple young players developed late season). It was basically hand it off and run behind our OL, no throw game, give up 1 td every SEC game on STs, give up bombs all day on defense, get skulldragged by Mizzou and Auburn. Just not a good team.

 

[Devo182]

How many of those recruits are still on our team? How many were developed as well as our competition? How many times did we cover last year?

247 team talent rankings will answer that question. We were 15th last year. I'd bet we drop to the high teens in 2021. We've lost a lot of raw talent. We'll still be ahead of USC and the rest though and behind the usual 3.

 

[VolGee4]

2013 has to take the cake, at least for my lifetime.

Outside of an elite OL, we returned a historically poor and slow defense, no QB, no one to throw it to (though a couple young players developed late season). It was basically hand it off and run behind our OL, no throw game, give up 1 td every SEC game on STs, give up bombs all day on defense, get skulldragged by Mizzou and Auburn. Just not a good team.

The UGA game that year was probably Butch's best game he coached at UT.

 

[volsfan_17]

How many of those recruits are still on our team? How many were developed as well as our competition? How many times did we cover last year?

Not my argument, but what does us covering the spread have to do with this years expected total win number?

 

[Volnatic]

Leg day, back drop of mirrors reflecting leg day
View attachment 363541

Can’t be leg day. That photo is in color

 

[Devo182]

Can’t be leg day. That photo is in color

 

[Smokeytom]

Gray, Crouch, Bennett also worth mentioning. Granted Bennett was gone no matter what, but he would have been our best returning pass rusher. Gray was grossly under utilized with previous staff having the biggest hard on for RBBC despite the talent gap that existed between Gray and everyone else.

I don't know if we'll have a stand out stud RB this first year, but I do think the positional group will as a whole account for more yardage this year. I still think people are really going to be impressed by Jaylen Wright and he may not even be the starter.

Completely disagree about Gray. I don't think we'll miss him one bit. Not a knock on Gray really. I just think we have great talent ready to go at RB. Also never liked how easily Gray would go down. Yeah he could make people miss, but if you feathered his big toe he hit the turf. Crouch was a huge disappointment. Probably played out of position his whole time here, but that's partly his own fault. Should've gave RB a go. Or at least put his hand in the dirt and be a pass rush specialist.

 

[VolGee4]

2010 is up there as well.

2014, as you said, was a young team.

2018 was bad - Butch didn't leave much for Pruitt.

Some just weren't developed before 2018. But, Callaway, Jennings, Palmer are/will be pros. Chandler was a 5 star back. OL was a work in progress, but Trey played 7 games. Carvin, Calbert, and Richmond were high level/solid recruits.

On defense, Tuttle, Phillips, and Darrell Taylor are pros. Kongbo was a 5 star. Bituli was solid. Secondary was a bit weak but had a pro on a practice roster and 5 star Warrior with Abernathy, Baylen Buchanan, and Taylor.

Had many more high level pieces than 2010 and 2013.

 

[Devo182]

I will say...it's nice to finally be a team that brings a sort of scheme no team wants to face. No one feared us under Pruitt, no reason to worry over a 20 ppg offense that didn't stress you at all and a defense that struggled just to line up correctly.

We may not win a ton starting off, but other teams legitimately have to worry we might just go off offensively and pick them off like an Ole Miss.

Something oddly satisfying about that.

 

[volbeast33]

He would have been fired with all the other assistants when the allegations came out. No one survived that massacre. He was not gonna be able to prevent the cheating.

We have cheated every single year to some degree for years.

 

[Smokeytom]

We had Will Friend and Jim Chaney coaching the OL. Maybe they didn't do that good of a job or maybe some of the guys we had on the OL last year weren't all that coachable, which is my theory. I think Pruitt may have Butch Jonesed some of the guys on our team, made promises to them that had nothing to do with their development or what they earned/deserved. jmo.

A number of times I’ve come back to thinking about one of the things the remaining team members reportedly asked for when White was first beginning the coaching search. The team wanted a coach that would bring accountability to the team.

I agree with the expectation that our OL could be better this year and I think it starts with having better leadership and commitment in the room. jmo.

I'm not convinced Friend or Chaney are great OL coaches. Chaney's best OL's have all been taught by Pittman, plus he seems more like a motivator than a tactician. I really don't know about Friend. I think Pruitt micro-managed that position big time. I would be extremely shocked if the rotating of the OL was Friend or Chaney's idea. Letting a starting 5 OL build chemistry is as old as football. With that said, Friend's OL never picked up blitzes very well. That's on both QB and C, but falls back to coaching.

 

[volinbama256]

crazy we have not seen us pick up a transfer LB yet...

 

[engineerVOL]

I will say...it's nice to finally be a team that brings a sort of scheme no team wants to face. No one feared us under Pruitt, no reason to worry over a 20 ppg offense that didn't stress you at all and a defense that struggled just to line up correctly.

We may not win a ton starting off, but other teams legitimately have to worry we might just go off offensively and pick them off like an Ole Miss.

Something oddly satisfying about that.

tl;dr version: We have ourself a coach that knows what Asparagus and Hollandaise sauce is.

 

[engineerVOL]

crazy we have not seen us pick up a transfer LB yet...

 

[thistime]

crazy we have not seen us pick up a transfer LB yet...

I think we are just going to have to play with what we got. Every player that has left has nothing good to say about US, every opposing coach in the country has nothing good to say about US, every media person in the country and some that cover nothing but the Vols have nothing positive to say about US and with social media and the way these kids watch this site and others and talk among the selves they see very little good about US. That is your answer, sometimes we have to understand that and win with who really wants to be here and then they will want to be a part of US.

 

[Revived2002]

I’m not relying on services...not a big fan. I’m looking at the obvious physical talent and the offers per signee. Some of our 3 stars were as impressive as those higher. In any case, the science ESPN is employing and Kingston is banking his case would have had a higher score if GUARANTANO had returned...just sayin.

I hear you but I keep coming to the fact that just about every one of those guys was recruited to play a completely different system. Plus, we were 3-7 and uncompetitive in most of our losses last year, and a good chunk of our best players left.

I really believe we will be scratching and clawing our way to 6 wins. I feel pretty good about 3 wins out of conference, and Vandy and USC, but after that I’m thinking it’s a crapshoot, with some utter beat downs from Florida, Bama and likely UGA headed our way...

 

[Devo182]

I hear you but I keep coming to the fact that just about every one of those guys was recruited to play a completely different system. Plus, we were 3-7 and uncompetitive in most of our losses last year, and a good chunk of our best players left.

I really believe we will be scratching and clawing our way to 6 wins. I feel pretty good about 3 wins out of conference, and Vandy and USC, but after that I’m thinking it’s a crapshoot, with some utter beat downs from Florida, Bama and likely UGA headed our way...

Feeling pretty good about those 5 wins is a nice start. Still leaves Mizzou, Pitt, UK, Ole Miss. Assume those are 50/50 on average and there's 7 wins.

This is why I can't wrap my head around people thinking we'll win only 4 or 5 games. It would take us losing 4-5 coinflip games.

 

[HalfullVol]

9 dubs, minimum

Go Vols !

 

[thistime]

Feeling pretty good about those 5 wins is a nice start. Still leaves Mizzou, Pitt, UK, Ole Miss. Assume those are 50/50 on average and there's 7 wins.

This is why I can't wrap my head around people thinking we'll win only 4 or 5 games. It would take us losing 4-5 coinflip games.

I just took a quick look at the roster and looked at the bios of some of the presumed starters at positions in question and for those that live by the star ratings there a several 4 star players that got "BOOMS" when they committed. I just don't think they were coached and or given a chance to succeed under the last regime to be honest.

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

2022 Top Football Recruits in Tennessee

Look at how many of them are committed elsewhere or predicted to go elsewhere.

Highest one we CB’d to us a #23 in the state.

Unreal

 

[ptclaus98]

Feeling pretty good about those 5 wins is a nice start. Still leaves Mizzou, Pitt, UK, Ole Miss. Assume those are 50/50 on average and there's 7 wins.

This is why I can't wrap my head around people thinking we'll win only 4 or 5 games. It would take us losing 4-5 coinflip games.

That's assuming this offense can score 30 plus on anybody rolling out of bed. A lot of people are A) Assuming this offense will score 30-40-50 a game and never stumble, B) massively short selling the offense last year based on atrocious QB play, C) casually glossing over the fact we've lost all but 1 of the pieces off of that offense in the first place. This offense will have to be 40 ppg EVERY time they step on the field, because our defense flat out doesn't have the bodies. 2012 is a perfect example of what this season could look like, and even they started to sputter down the stretch.

Theres one SEC team on our schedule with a worse roster than us, and that's because we just don't have numbers and the numbers we do have are on offense. We could get somebody, Florida or Ole Miss if we have a day on offense and their defensive issues continue, but we're also gonna have some days on offense where nothing gets started and we give up 30 points in the second or third quarter and lose 48-27 in a game that was 48-13 with 4 minutes left. We just don't have the talent to overcome the massive depth issues ATM. The portal may change that but it's not looking good at all and we're hemorrhaging good recruits and good bodies every month. Now if summer comes and guys like Whitehead and maybe even Hodge have epiphanies that they're better suited at LB and they get ready over summer and have good camps, then we get some diamonds in the rough with the frosh secondary guys and Alontae becomes the All-SEC shutdown CB he was looking like his freshman year, AND THEN we get some good QB play, then MAYBE 6-7 is a possibility when you account for a bad game here and there like happens with every new coach that takes over a program that isn't already a national power. But that's a lot to ask for and that's also assuming that other teams on the schedule don't have pleasant surprises on their rosters.

 

[ptclaus98]

2022 Top Football Recruits in Tennessee

Look at how many of them are committed elsewhere or predicted to go elsewhere.

Highest one we CB’d to us a #23 in the state.

Unreal

This is what happens when you nuke your program to "save" 12 million dollars. It's a legacy of the 15 years of disastrous footballing decisions on the Hill.

 

[Vol423]

Feeling pretty good about those 5 wins is a nice start. Still leaves Mizzou, Pitt, UK, Ole Miss. Assume those are 50/50 on average and there's 7 wins.

This is why I can't wrap my head around people thinking we'll win only 4 or 5 games. It would take us losing 4-5 coinflip games.

I don't think those are coinflip games. We were a horrible team last year, and we almost certainly got worse other than the one case of addition by subtraction with JG.