Think about what an extra home game of immense magnitude would mean for Knoxville. All the hotels, restaurants, bars, local shops, transportation. It's a massive windfall for everyone. Your community should have an opportunity to cash in too.
That is excellent football. Are all the kids college football size? Because we're in the highest classification in Florida and that's not the case. Even the five big opponents we faced had many kids that will never sniff the field in college. Northwestern Miami, St Frances (Baltimore MD), Clearwater Academy, Seminole and Lakeland FL all have solid amounts of college prospects. I'm guessing those are similar to what you see where you are. Venice also played IMG. IMG is the only opponent where every player will more than likely play in college. They are an exception. But then there are games against Naples, Sarasota, Riverview (twice), Riverdale, Lehigh, and Bucholz that have 5-10 college athletes across the Senior to Freshmen spectrum, but mostly kids who's careers will end their senior year.
I'm not defending anyone's takes either way, but that's not an apples to apples comparison. Kirby walked into a tailor-made situation and that's not detracting from what he's done. But..... he didn't have culture issues, talent issues, NCAA issues, recruiting issues, portal issues, or roster issues. UGA was a consistent 10 win program, but Richt couldn't get them over the hump to win a championship. Kirby was tasked with putting on a fresh coat of paint and adding a pool out back. Heupel has been tasked with a complete remodel of a rental that's been neglected for 20 years and had a crumbling foundation. You absolutely have to establish and maintain a particular culture to get this thing back in the parade of homes. Getting talent with high character and program loyalty is part of that. He can't afford a class with lot's of talented busts and misses due to character issues (see TAMU).
